Beacon of Hope
by Dayton McCloud
Summary: A young man wondering the world looking for purpose can fulfill his dream of joining Beacon to become a hunter, but can he face his past and be able to confront what is ahead? Maybe with the help of a certain girl or girls.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Wondering Soul**

He took a deep breath and felt the night air fill his lungs. It was a refreshing feeling despite his current situation. He looked down from the rooftop he was on near the outskirts of Vale and enjoyed the view and the quiet of the city at night. It gave him time to think and reflect on his life and how fast things seemed to have happened. "_How did I end up here?" _He thought to himself. "_I guess I really just have myself to blame." _He looked up into the night sky, mesmerized by the stars in the sky.

He sighed to himself and decided to move on when he saw a light in the sky moving towards where he was. As the light got closer he immediately recognized it as some sort of drop ship. The ship flew right over him and landed not too far away from where he was standing on the roof. Curiosity got the best of him se he decided to go towards where the ship landed to investigate.

He ran on the rooftops nimbly maneuvering his way towards the landing site. He made it to the last rooftop and saw the ship with some people dressed in red and black unloading crates and putting them into cars. "Hurry it up! The police will be all over the city looking for us and I don't want to stick around until they find us!" A voice rang out. A man with orange hair wearing a black hat and white coat walked out of the airship. He looked annoyed and seemed to be the one ordering them to load the crates.

When he had seen enough to know that these men where shady he decided to make his move. He jumped from his position on the roof and gracefully landed in a crouched position in front of all of the men loading the cars. They all were taken by surprise by this person who just fell from the sky. The man with the orange hair started to pace towards him. "Just great! And who are you supposed to be?" he said, clearly annoyed.

"I'm Lance. Lance Azure." He said as he stood up and looked the man straight in the eye with his green eyes.

"Ok, listen here Lance. I don't have time to deal with another pest, so if you excuse me, I'll have my friends take care of you." He said as he held up his arms in a presenting manner as the men in red and black drew blood red, slightly curved, swords.

Lance grabbed the sword on his back a pulled it from its sheath, the double edged sword slightly glimmering in the moonlight. Lance presented a cocky smile as three crooks rushed him. He dodged all of their swings and decided it was the time to fight back. He slashed one of them, sending him flying into another man waiting to fight him. In two quick motions he took out the other two. "I underestimated you Mr. Azure." The man in the white coat said in a mocking tone. More men rushed him and were all slashing trying to get a hit in on him. As more slashes were thrown at Lance the harder the time he had keeping up with them. He waited for openings and took them, slimming down the number of men attacking him, but taking a few hits from them, which his aura blocked, but it still hurt. He took out all the men that were thrown at him. The man in the white coat looked frustrated with his face in his hand.

"It's one thing after another this day…" He said

"Let me take care of it" A mysterious voice said. A woman wearing a red dress with yellow accents and also had black hair stepped out of the airship. Her hand was engulfed in flames and it looked like her eyes were glowing from where Lance was. She held up her hand and flung a massive fire ball at him. "_Aw crap_" Lance thought before the fireball hit him sending him flying into a wall and knocking him out.

"Are you all right young man?" A voice came from the shadows. When Lance came to he saw a man wearing green and also wearing glasses. He had grey hair, but looked relatively younger than one would think someone with grey hair would look. "I'm a little… uh… shaken up." Lance said still recovering from that blast of fire he took.

"You look like you're a little more than 'shaken up', but if you say so." He said holding out a hand.

"Thanks" Lance said as he gladly took the man's hand. He was pulled up and when he was standing on his feet, he lost balance a bit and felt a little light headed. The man noticed this and asked, "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, just shaken up." Lance said as he regained his balance and started to feel a little more normal. "I just have a headache."

The man walks over and picks up Lance's sword and inspects it. He walks back over to Lance and hands him his sword. "Ozpin." The man says.

"Hm?"

"My name. It's Ozpin. Might I ask what your name is?"

"My name is Lance Azure."

"Azure… Hello Lance it is a pleasure to meet you."

Lance puts his sword away and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you too Ozpin."

"So Lance, this may be a bit odd, but I see you are a talented, young individual, and I so happen to be the head of a school that you may be interested in joining."

"School? Why would I be interested in going to school?"

"Does Beacon ring any bells? Perhaps you have heard of this school."

Lance looks at him in shock. Ever since he was young he always wanted to be a hunter. He wanted to be a hero, just like in the story books and legends.

"You have my attention Mr. Ozpin" excitement evident in his voice.

"Visit me at beacon tomorrow. We can continue this chat tomorrow and you can get some well needed rest."

Lance nods and Ozpin turns around and walks away. Lance felt ecstatic and was overjoyed to even have the chance to join one of the most prestigious schools for hunters and huntresses. He could see his dream coming to fruition right before his eyes. He walked back to his apartment all the while thinking about the next day.

When he arrived at his place he took off his black jacket with dark blue highlights and gold accessories and sat down on his bed. A random thought occurred to him and he remembered his fight with the man with the orange hair and that… lady. She seemed out of place and it felt off. He shrugged off that thought and continued to think of his trip tomorrow at beacon. He turned off the lights and decided that he should go to sleep after taking some medication for the headache. He got into his bed and stared at his ceiling for a while. Despite his apartment being kind of in crappy shape, he enjoyed it none the less. There was one thing that he missed though, and that was his family. When his thoughts drifted to his family he immediately found something else to think about and went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Welcome to Beacon**

When Lance woke up he noticed the time was 8:30. "Wow, that's way earlier than I usually wake up." He said to himself. "_Maybe I'm just excited about today_" he thought as he got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He combed his dark brown (borderline black) hair and got dressed in his dark blue tee shirt, black pants and went to his kitchen, which was a part of the living room. He poured a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes and went to watch TV in the living room while he ate his cereal. He flicked through channels until he saw a familiar face. He turned back to the news and noticed the same figure he fought last night.

The news said his name was Roman Torchwick and he was a pretty big name in the crime world. He thought about this man and wondered what connections he may have and if the girl may have been one of them, and if he pissed off this guy would he go out of his way to find Lance? Lance pushed aside those thoughts and replaced them with ones of beacon. He finished his breakfast and put his bowl and spoon in the sink.

He rushed to the door and grabbed his signature long coat and put on his black and blue shoes. He thought to himself "Ozpin didn't even give me a time to meet him, and when I get there where will I know where to go?" He shrugged and decided he would find him. He went out the door and ran down the steps of his apartment, seeing as he lived on the second floor, and grabbed the handle of the door to go outside. When he opened the door he noticed a woman standing there waiting for something or someone.

The woman had blond hair and wore glasses. She had a weird purple cape-thing and wore a white collared shirt and a black skirt. She turned around as she heard the door open and they made eye contact. Lance immediately looked away and started walking towards the direction Beacon was in. "Wait." The woman said in a slightly commanding tone. Lance turned around and looked at her. "May I help you miss?" he said.

"Are you Lance?" she said.

"Well, yea I am, why?"

"Come with me." She said in her slightly commanding tone.

"My mother taught me not to follow strangers." Lance mused.

She gave Lance a glare and said "Very funny Mr. Azure, but do you want to come to Beacon or not?" she said, clearly not amused by the joke.

"Uh yes miss, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything like that. I was just trying to be funny… Miss…?"

She raises an eyebrow at Lance. "I am Glynda Goodwitch." She responds.

"A pleasure to meet you Glynda."

She adjusts her glasses and gives lance a look that says "I'll be watching you".

"Likewise" She says. "Follow me. I'll take you to Professor Ozpin."

She leads Lance to a car where there is a man already at the wheel. She opens the door for Lance and he proceeds to get into the vehicle, shortly followed by her. The driver then starts the engine and drives off to Beacon.

When Lance arrives at Beacon after transferring to a ship that would take him and Glynda there, the first thing he notices is that nobody's around. As to be expected because school doesn't start until tomorrow. Lance didn't think of this at all until he finally arrived and kind of felt like an idiot. Both Glynda and Lance walked the corridors of the school heading towards wherever Ozpin is. Lance assumed that it would be some sort of office, and low and behold he was right. Goodwitch opened the door for Lance and said "He'll see you now."

Questioning how she knew that immediately without even checking in was beyond him, but she must have some involvement in the school and must know Ozpin on some sort of level to know that he isn't busy. He walked in and notice Ozpin sipping on a cup of coffee and looking at his scroll. He looked up at him without moving his head. "Come, take a seat." He said as he closed his scroll. Lance walked over to one of the chairs there and sat in it, noticing how messy his office really is. Both of them looked over at the sound of the door closing but immediately turned their attention back to one another.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"I slept well. I also feel a lot better." Lance said.

"I'm glad to hear."

"So what did you want to discuss? Or rather continue discussing."

"I was curious about whether or not you would be interested in joining my school. I know it's a bit late, considering school starts fairly soon, but for now simply answer the question."

"I want to join more than anything."

"I'm glad to hear that, Lance. You show promise, or at least I think you do, and when I get a feeling I normally follow it and it normally ends up being right." To that Lance had to smile a bit.

"Now that you've answered that question it is a matter of finding a team for you. Normally we let the teams fall into place so to say, but you, Lance, are an exception. You see, with you enrolling it will make an odd number of students and teams are normally made up of four people."

"So, I don't see a problem with it."

"Well it somewhat complicates things, but yes it really isn't that big of a deal."

"Ok" Lance said somewhat confused as to why he would bring it up as if it WAS a big deal.

"My point being is that you will proceed with the tests and everything like that, but when teams are being made you will have a choice, unlike the students that have already enrolled. It makes things a little easier."

Lance nods at this and smiles at the fact that he made it into Beacon.

"Do you have any questions, Mr. Azure?" he asks.

"No other than when do I begin?" he said excitement easily notable in his voice.

"Well that would be tomorrow, but I assume you knew that and was showing your enthusiasm." Ozpin said giving a faint smile.

"Do you have a scroll?" Ozpin asked.

"Uhh no… I don't."

"Hmm… Ok, take this spare one I so happen to have. Do you know how to use a scroll?"

"Well, yea, I just don't have one. I used them many times before."

"Good. Take this. In a day from now meet up here" he said pointing to a location on a map that was pulled up on the scroll, "where you will board an airship full of students that will transport you back to here. From there you will head on to initiation and you will get some direction from there."

"Wow, Mr. Ozpin, I just want to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to join your school. It's an honor."

"It's not a problem, and welcome to Beacon."


	3. Chapter 3

**So the first two chapters are up and now this one is. I hope you liked it so far. I'm being fairly vague with this character I had in mind, but the more you read the more you will find out about Lance and his past... But all in due time. For now this is kind of a set up for what it to come. If you have seen RWBY there will be a lot I am basically taking from the show (I do not own the rights to RWBY) but I felt that it was fitting. Expect more updates in the future, but for now, three chapters is a pretty good start to this story. Enjoy**

**Dayton McCloud**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Welcome to Beacon pt. 2**

"_Wow there's a lot more people than I thought would be here."_ Lance thought to himself on the airship. He was watching the news that was playing on some sort of hologram TV-thing. The news lady was talking about something he wasn't really even listening to. He turned his attention to the window just as they were taking off. He was quite surprised at how large the ship was and how sleek it looked. It made sense though, considering all the people on the airship.

He continued to look out the window watching their ascent and smiling all the while. He could barely contain his excitement about attending Beacon, but one thing bothered him. He didn't know anybody. It would make it difficult to decide what team to join if he didn't get to know anybody, but he quickly pushed the thought away and continued to live in the moment looking out the window at the beautiful view.

He noticed two girls causing a bit of a commotion and looked over at the two. One was taller and had long blond hair. The other was shorter with black hair with red on the ends of it. They seemed chummy and he thought about his friend dilemma but decided against going up to them and introducing himself because they seemed busy conversing over something. He didn't want to be rude and interrupt what they were talking about.

He continued looking out the window until he heard a familiar voice. He saw that the news was replaced with a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch. "Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future hunters and huntresses it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

After that she vanished. All the students 'ooed' and 'aawwwed' and started to move to one side of the ship, Lance included. Lance was amazed with what he saw. There it was; Beacon Academy, and he was a student! The view was breath taking and everyone seemed captivated by it. The ship started floating closer to the school and finally came to a complete stop.

Everyone was loading off and Lance was amazed by the view when he got off of the ship. The huge building to the front of him was amazing! It looked more like a castle from where he was! He walked around taking everything in and getting lost in thought as to what would come in store for him. After a while he found a bench to sit down in. He still had time to kill and couldn't think of any way to kill time. They weren't given any dorms yet, as the notes said they would be getting in the scroll he got from Ozpin, and he had no one to talk to. He sat for a little while until he saw that same girl with the black and red hair getting scolded by a girl dressed in white shaking a bottle of dust. She looked familiar, like he knew her from somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Then the girl with the black and red hair sneezed and there was a huge explosion that took Lance by surprise. He immediately ran over the girls. "Are you both all right?" He asked quickly. The smoke cleared and he could see that they looked fine actually. "Unbelievable!" the girl in white said. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry." The girl with the black and red hair said poking her fingers together.

"_What an odd gesture_" he thought to himself.

"Ungh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here, aren't you a bit young to be attending Beacon?"

"Ahem" Lance feigns a cough to get their attention. "Are you both ok?"

"Fine! No thanks her!" the girl in white said clearly still angry. She immediately turns back to the other girl. "This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know. We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess." The other retaliates.

"Its heiress actually." A new female voice emerges from behind Lance. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." She says as she walks up to the growing circle of people. She is wearing predominately black with a distinct bow in her black hair. She also has really yellow eyes.

"_That was it! That's where she looked familiar. Weiss Schnee!"_ Lance thought.

"Finally, some recognition." Weiss says.

"The very same company infamous for its controversial labor forces, and questionable business partners." The girl in black says.

"Wha!? How dare- th-the nerve of…!"

And with that Wiess walks away very unpleased with what had occurred. "I promise I'll make this up to you!" The smaller girl said as Weiss walked away. "*Sigh* I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day" she says as she looks down.

"I'm sorry about that, she seemed a little up tight." Lance said looking at her.

"It's ok, it's not your fault, and thanks for asking if we were ok." She says looking up to Lance.

"_She's kinda cute, and she seems so innocent_" Lance thinks.

"My name is Lance Azure, what's yours?"

"I'm Ruby Rose."

"It's nice to meet you Ruby, but I have to get going, you should too. I hope we can talk again soon!"

"Yeah! You seem nice. I'd like to talk again."

"Good bye." Lance says walking away while waving. She gives a wave back and he continues his way to the orientation.

* * *

"So! What's-?" Ruby looks over and sees that the mysterious girl is gone. She falls on her knees, then lays back. "Welcome to Beacon." She sighs. She closes her eyes gives a faint smile that she kind of made a friend. He seemed nice, but she forgot to ask how to get to orientation or if he could show her the way. All of the sudden a shadow appears over her face. She opens her eyes and sees a familiar face that she saw on the airship and he's holding out a hand. "Hey." He says. "I'm Jaune".

"Ruby." She says in response.

* * *

Lance made his way to the orientation room. There were a ton of people gathered around a stage. Lance joins the crowd standing on the edge of a small crowd next to someone he doesn't even know. After a while and him looking around out of boredom, he saw that Weiss girl, and also that other mystery girl with the bow. He also notices that blonde on the airship that was with Ruby. He wondered briefly how she was affiliated with her. He started to catch himself staring at the girl and blushing when he realizes that he was staring at her. She was really beautiful in his defense, with a body that would make any man stare, at least for a few seconds.

He musters up the courage to go over and ask about Ruby and see if he could make another friend while he was at it. He worked his way through the crowd and made it to the blonde. "Excuse me." He said as he tapped her shoulder. The girl turned around and looked him up and down. "Hey, what's up?" She says.

"Uhm, do you know a girl named Ruby?" Lance inuquired.

"I do! She's my little sister, and the best little sister ever might I add." She says, "Why do you ask?"

"Uhm well-"

"Oh, one sec." she says as she quickly runs out of the row we were in and calls over to someone. Lance takes a look back and sees Ruby waving to some blonde guy as she makes her way towards her sister. The girl makes her way back with Ruby and goes to her original spot.

"Lance?" She says.

"Hey Ruby." He says as he slides over allowing Ruby to stand next to her sister. "_They don't really look alike_" Lance thought.

"Oooo Ruby, two boys in one day, I'm proud of you." The blonde girl says, nudging Ruby with her elbow and winking at her. "You have good taste too." She whispers to her, "At least with this one." Lance blushes and looks away due to the compliment given to him.

"No Yang, it's not like that! I just met him today anyways. He asked if I was ok when I blew up."

"Yikes, meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school. And there was fire and I think some ice?"

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang asks, leaning in closer and raising an eyebrow.

"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled again, and I felt really really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me."

"You!" a voice came from behind Lance, taking him by surprise. It was that Weiss Schnee girl from before.

"Oh God it's happening again!" Ruby said jumping into Yang's arms

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh my God, you really did explode." Said Yang in slight shock.

"It was an accident. It was an accident!" Ruby said hopping out of Yang's arms. Lance and Yang starred on at the 'conversation' they were having.

"She does seem pretty grumpy." Lance said slightly under his breath, but Yang heard and gave a small chuckle. "What? She does, doesn't she?" Lance said.

"Well yea, it's just the way you said it that made it kind of silly." Yang said. They continued to stare on at the argument until Yang stepped in to try help her little sister. Lance didn't do anything. He couldn't really think of anything more he could do.

The microphone turned on and a familiar voice rang through the room.

"I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills and when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, a need of purpose, direction." With this Lance gave a slight look of sorrow before he pushed away that emotion and continued to pay attention, "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Everyone in the room gave weird looks and a few mumbles of confusion, and this even confused Lance. This didn't really seem like the Ozpin he met at all. Ozpin stepped away from the microphone as Glynda Goodwitch stepped up.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She said.

Everybody was still confused about the weird orientation and there were louder mumbles of confusion now that it was over. Lance was just as confused and thought back to Ozpin's words that troubled him. "_But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, a need of pupose, direction._" He thought about that word… "_Purpose_"


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's another chapter. Shout out to shinobi201 for pointing out some errors in previous chapters. Thanks for putting up with the errors as I'm still pretty new to writing. Anyways a little more background on Lance and getting to know him a little more. I'm thinking about trying to draw what he would look like and set that as the cover, but we'll see. If you have any questions or recommendations, then leave a review or PM me and I will do what I can to answer or respond to them. And with that, this is Chapter 4: Initiation  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Initiation**

All of the students gathered in the ballroom. A lot of sleeping bags were being set up on the ground. The room was separated by gender. One half of the room was the girl's side and the other was the guy's side. Lance decided to run to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

There were still a few people getting ready for the night in the bathroom, including that same blonde guy Ruby seemed to know. He looked scrawny, granted Lance was a little scrawny but not as scrawny as him, and the onesie he wore made him kind of question what he was doing here. "_To each his own,_" Lance thought. Lance went up to the sink next to the other guy and decided to try and make conversation with him.

"Hey, I'm Lance,"

"Oh, uh, I'm Juane," He said a little timidly.

"Juane, that's a good name," Lance said casting him a small smile.

"Thanks," He said as he looked back down packing his toothbrush and toothpaste away in a little carrier.

"Do you know Ruby?" Lance decides to ask.

"Well kind of. I just met her today so…"

"Well that makes two of us," Lance says giving him another smile to make him a little less un-easy. Juane returns the smile.

"So how about that orientation, huh? Ozpin seemed a little off,"

"Off? He isn't normally like that?"

"Not that I could tell from the few times I've met him,"

"Huh… The orientation was a little strange,"

Lance proceeds to take out his tooth brush and tooth paste and lays them out.

"Well Lance, it was nice to meet you, but I'm gonna hit the hay,"

"It was nice to meet you too Juane. Hope to see ya later," Lance said giving a small wave.

"Yea, see ya," He said. And with that he left, leaving Lance alone in the bathroom.

Lance made his way back to his spot where his things were laid out. Lance didn't have much, not even a sleeping bag, but he had a blanket and pillow, so he laid that out in his spot. He got under his blanket and started to think about what initiation would hold. He grew more excited just thinking about testing his mettle and proving he can be a hunter. His mind jumped to an image of his family and he immediately pushed that image out of his mind. "_I left that behind, I can't dwell on the past… but yet here I am… dwelling._"

He rolled over and saw Yang dragging Ruby towards that mystery girl with the bow. "_I wonder what they're up to._" He watched on considering it helped take his mind off of what he was thinking about. He smiled when the sisters started to have a small scrap so to say. It reminded him when he was younger and fought with his younger sister. "_Stop. Thinking. About. The past,_" He sighed and rolled over to try take his mind off the subject. After a while he drifted into sleep.

"So what about that Lance guy?" Yang asked

"Hm? What about Lance?"

"He seems nice and level-headed, unlike that other guy you met. And he's not too bad looking either." She says glancing over to where she saw him sleeping.

"Uggghhh," Ruby groaned. "You really enjoy pestering me,"

"It's out of love, little sis!" Ruby gave her sister a smile at what she said.

"Hey Yang, I also wanted to say thanks for helping me out too, you know, with helping me talk to that Blake girl,"

"No sweat little sis! I didn't do much," She said, playing with her hair. "You've been making friends all on your own," She said.

"I guess. We should go to sleep though. Tomorrow is a big day,"

Lance was at his locker gearing up. He didn't have much to equip or take with him, other than his sword. He strapped his sword on to his back and closed his locker. He turned around and noticed this girl who was pretty tall and had red hair. Lance had seen her before. Her name is Pyrrha Nikos. She won the Mistral Regional tournament and was on the box of Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes. Weiss went up to her though before he could introduce himself. Probably for the better because he was afraid he'd make a fool of himself.

As he was making his way out to where they are supposed to meet for initiation a hand grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. It was Ruby with Yang just behind her. They were both smiling and Lance kind of blushed at how adorable they both looked. "Hey Lance!" said Ruby

"What's up?" asked Yang.

"I'm just heading to the initiation thing,"

"What a coincidence, we are too!" Yang said in a joking manner.

"Walk with us!" Ruby said looking up at Lance with that same adorable smile on her face.

"S-Sure," Lance said blushing and a little flustered.

The group started making their way to where initiation was taking place.

"So what school did you go to before this?" asked Ruby, "I don't think it was Signal, otherwise I would've seen you there,"

"Uhm, well. I sort of didn't graduate. I actually dropped out,"

"Dropped out?" yang said. "How did you make it to Beacon then?"

"Ozpin came up to me and gave me an offer to join the school, and I took it. That's the short version,"

"Are you like Ruby? She got in earlier than every student here." Yang said, clearly proud of her sister.

"Well not really. I'm only 17 so just like most students who join,"

They both nod "So what's your weapon?" Ruby asks.

"Well it's basically just a sword, nothing more, nothing less," He says as he draws it. It's dark blue steel shining in the sun.

"It looks fancy," says Yang

"Yea, it's probably my only worldly possession I own. I mean I have other things, but this sword is something I value the most," He says as he puts his sword away. "It's actually a hand-me-down from my father." Lance says. He immediately regrets bringing it up and his face shows a slight sadness to it. The girls didn't seem to notice though because of how quickly the emotion passed.

"Huh, what's your father like?" asks Ruby

"Uh well… he's a good man. He's a hard worker and wants nothing but the best for his family," Lance says

"Awww that's sweet," Yang says.

They finally arrive to where they are supposed to meet. There are weird platform-things that students are standing on. Glynda and Ozpin are both there. Glynda steps forward and assigns us our positions. Lance is a ways away from where Ruby is in the line-up of students.

"For years you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin says, "and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest,"

"Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given team-mates. Today,"

"These team-mates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. There is one exception though," Ozpin says, "Lance Azure, would you please step up here,"

Lance looks a little timid. All eyes are on him. He moves at a fast walk over to Ozpin.

"If you see this young man out there in the forest he can join your group, even if there is already 2 people to a group," He continues. The group of students all mumble. Lance catches a few of their words like "What makes him so special?" and "Why does he get to be the lucky one who can be in a group of three?"

"He technically doesn't count as a member of the group, but the eye-contact rule still stands for him. It's just he may or may not be your partner for the entirety of the four years,"

More mumbles of confusion arise from the students.

"You may take your place Mr. Azure," He says and Lance makes his way back to his spot getting the stink eye from a few and looks of confusion from others.

"After you've partnered up make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, uhm sir?" Juane said

"Good. Now, take your positions,"

Lance puts a hand on his sword, ready for anything. He felt anxious and excited and wondered how they were getting down to the forest. "_Are we just going to jump off the cliff or something?_" All of the sudden he felt the pedestal thing move and the next thing he knew he was flung into the air.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! Here's another chapter up! Tell me what you think, I did change up the order of things a bit, but y'know... yeahhh. Also I am wondering about the length of these chapters, are they long enough? Tell me what you think, and I appreciate your continued reading. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing this story!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Emerald Forest**

Lance felt the air whipping against his face and was thinking "_how am I going to land? If I don't do something I'm gonna end up dead before I even attend my first class here,_" Lance drew his sword and thought about what he would do. He saw the trees grow closer and closer to him. He figured something out. It wasn't perfect, but it was that or end up dead.

He plunged his sword into the first tree he saw. The momentum of his descent pulled him past the tree and his sword tore through it like butter. He attempted it again but this time he came to a quick stop. He dangled there for a minute, relieved that he actually survived the fall. He saw other students falling from the sky and all their landing strategies. A few had some pretty graceful ones, while a few others were… less graceful.

He decided enough time was wasted dangling there and he pulled the sword from the tree. He started to fall, but he landed on his feet and instantly checked his surroundings. He couldn't see or hear anything out of the normal so he started walking in the direction he thought was north. "_I wonder who I'll run into,_" he thought.

After a while with a lot of walking and nothing eventful happening he wondered what there was to this test. He heard a loud voice nearby. It sounded like someone was upset. He started making his way to where the voice was coming from. He pulled a few branches back and he saw that it was Weiss scolding Ruby… again.

Thinking that he should help her out he decided to make his presence known. He stepped out of the brush and started walking towards them. While he was walking he looked in the distance and saw a plume of smoke arising from the forest. "_What could have caused that_?_" _He thought. He made it to the two girls arguing.

"But I'm still leagues better than you," Weiss said.

"Hey," Lance said. He could feel the tension in the air.

Weiss looked over before walking off.

"Hey! You're that Lance person who can be in a group of three,"

"Hey Lance," said Ruby, a little distraught but trying to hide it.

"Hey Ruby," he said.

"You don't have a partner yet," Weiss says stating the obvious.

"True, I don't have a partner yet. You guys are actually the first people I have seen,"

"You should join us," Ruby said with a hopeful face.

"I normally don't agree with her, but yes, you should join us. Maybe you'll be more useful than that child over there,"

"C'mon, I don't think that's called for, Weiss," Lance said.

Ruby glanced at Lance smiling because of him standing up for her. She could take care of herself, but she doesn't mind the help. Weiss shot Lance a look and it made him feel uncomfortable. She turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, Lance," Ruby said. Lance turned around to face her. "Thanks for standing up for me," She had a heartwarming smile on her face and Lance gladly returned it.

"No sweat. We are friends and what are friends for?" Lance said as he started walking in the direction Weiss was heading in. Ruby caught up and they all walked as a group.

* * *

Ozpin was staring at his scroll viewing the students. Glynda walked up behind him holding a scroll of her own. "Well it seems that all the teams have been made and that Lance fellow met up with Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee," she said. "He made the landing well enough, but we haven't seen him fight yet. Do you think he's capable? He doesn't have any previous education it looks like and we don't have much information on this person,"

"He'll be fine. Just trust me on this," he responded.

"If you say so professor Ozpin,"

Ozpin was looking at his scroll. He was watching Ruby, Weiss and Lance work their way through the forest.

* * *

"It's this way," Weiss said. Lance was leaning against a tree waiting patiently for Weiss to make up her mind. Ruby was sitting cross legged on the ground playing with a leaf.

"No, no it's definitely this way," she said turning around and walking in that direction

"I think we may be a little lost," Lance said

"Wha-? No we passed it. It's this way. Or is it this way?"

Ruby let out a sigh clearly bored at the moment.

"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby said standing up.

"I know exactly where we're going," She said turning to face her. "We're going… to… The forest temple,"

"Ugghh," Ruby groaned

"Oh stop it, you don't know where we are either!"

"Well at least I'm not pretending like I know everything!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Hold on, Hold on," Lance broke in. "Let's just take a second to calm down,"

"Calm down? How can you be calm around her?" Weiss says pointing at Ruby.

"We can't work together if we keep tearing each other down,"

"Who died and made you leader?" Weiss said putting a finger on his chest and looking at him with a clearly aggravated look.

"Hey, it's one thing to pick on me, but leave Lance alone!" Ruby broke in.

Lance was flattered that she would stand up for him as well.

"No it's ok," he said. "Let's all just try to get along for the sake of completing this mission,"

"Ugh. Fine. But just for the sake of the mission," Weiss said as she walked away to be alone and blow off some steam.

Ruby looked up at Lance and gave him a smile. "Thanks," Lance said.

"Hey, what are friends for," she said, quoting what he said a while ago.

"Do you have any ideas for figuring out where the forest temple would be?" Lance asked.

"Hmm… We could climb a tree!"

"That's not a bad idea."

With that, Ruby quickly made her way to a tree and quickly climbed it. She was up there for a little while before she came back down.

"How did the recon go?"

"I didn't see anything that stood out. Just some trees and a few cliffs."

"*sigh* well, we tried that. Let's take a minute and brainstorm some ideas."

They stood there in silence for quite some time thinking about what they could do. Weiss eventually, and reluctantly, came over after some time to help brainstorm. Ruby looked up and saw a giant nevermore flying in the air.

"I think I have an idea," She said.

"Cool, what is it?" Lance asked walking up to Ruby.

"See that nevermore up there?" she asks as she points up at the circling nevermore.

"Uuhhmm, yes,"

"I was thinking that if we had a view from up there, we could definitely see where the temple is!"

"That's absurd! How will we get up there? We can't fly," Weiss broke in.

"We may not be able to fly, but that can," Ruby said pointing back up at the nevermore.

"Oh you've got to be-"

"I like the idea," Lance cut Weiss off.

"What? If you think that's a good idea, you're just as idiotic as her!"

"Well, do you see any other options we have?"

"Uhm, well. We could- uhh…"

"Exactly. Now the question is, how do we ride it?"

As if on que, they see the bird land extremely close to the trio, just behind a few trees.

"Let's take this opportunity now while we still have the chance," Lance says as he starts to walk towards the ginormous bird. Ruby and a reluctant Weiss follow close behind.

They all hide behind a bush, very close to the nevermore. The nevermore seemed preoccupied doing something. "Ok, I say we all just make a mad dash and jump on its back. It's a simple enough plan, but it should work," Lance said.

"Ok, so are we all ready?" Ruby asked. The two looked back at Weiss who seems a little taken aback by how willing and ready they are to jump on the back of a vicious creature of Grimm.

"I guess… But I still think it's a stupid idea," She said.

"Fair enough," Lance said. "On the count of three, we all charge and jump on its back and hang on for dear life,"

"1… 2… 3,"

They all dash towards the creature not giving it a second to react. They all jump on its back and it starts to take flight. "Here we go!" Lance yelled.

"I still don't like this!" Weiss shouted back.

"It'll be fine!"

"Yea. Right. Fine!"

The nevermore was now starting to move a lot faster, but the plus was that they could see the temple and some other ruins close by. "There it is!" Ruby shouts to the group.

"Wait until we're over it, then we'll jump!" Lance shouted back.

"What!? How do you expect us to land?" Weiss yells.

"You landed once, you can do it again!" Lance yells, looking back at her and smiles at her.

"Are you insane?"

"Let me get back to you on that one, the temple is closing in! Get ready to jump!"

The temple was closing in quickly. When the Grimm was about over it, they all jumped off of the nevermore and started to fall towards the temple. "_Falling from insane heights twice in the same day? Wow this is a new record for me_" Lance thought. He quickly decided to use his semblance. He projected his aura into his hands and just before he hit the ground shot out that stored energy, slowing him down exponentially. He landed as if he simply jumped up and fell back down.

"_I'm glad I didn't use it the first time, otherwise I would probably not have enough energy after this time, but still, why didn't I think of this the first time?_" He quickly looked around and saw Yang with that other girl with the bow in her hair. He decided to go and join them seeing as he didn't see his teammates. _"I hope they're all right. I also hope maybe they saw what happened to them and if they know if they're ok_" He thought as he jogged over to Yang and the other girl.


	6. Chapter 6

**So Here's the new chapter! It's a little longer than the others, but that's because there's more action and I wanted to get it done in this chapter. I think it came out pretty well, but that's just me. anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Emerald Forest pt. 2**

Lance made his way over to the two girls standing at the temple. It looked like it was more of a shrine. There were pedestals where the relics were. The relics themselves were chess pieces. "Hey, nice of you to drop in," Yang said with a smile. "But really, that thing you did there was cool, could you teach me how to do that?"

"I'm not quite sure, but right now I don't know where Ruby and Weiss are. Have you seen them?" Lance said, worry evident in his voice.

"I'm ok," said Ruby as she came up to join the group.

"Ok, good, but what about the ice queen?"

All of the sudden they heard a crash and they all looked over to see what it was. Weiss was sitting on top of Juane and Juane looked like he was in pain.

"My hero" She said sarcastically.

"My back…" Juane groaned.

"Poor Juane" Lance said.

They heard more noise coming from the forest. They all looked and saw an Ursa come from the trees and fall over. A girl with orange hair wearing a pink skirt was riding it. "Aww it's broken," she said in a disappointed tone.

"Nora… please… *huff* don't ever do that again," said a man clad in green coming from the same direction. He had long black hair that was in a ponytail, and there was a streak of pink in his hair as well.

There was another crash that came from a different direction. They saw Pyrrha running from the trees and a deathstalker on her tail. She got hit by the creature's claw and was flung towards the group.

"Was that girl riding on an Ursa? And did she just run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?" said the girl with the bow.

"Oh hey, I think we briefly met, uh, kind of. What's your name?" Lance asked

"Blake," the girl with the bow said.

"Now probably isn't the best time for introductions. We have an angry deathstalker on our hands," Weiss said.

"Not just a deathstalker," said Ruby pointing up at the sky. The group looked up to see that the nevermore was circling the group and didn't seem all too happy.

"Great. At least the gang's all here so we can die together!" Yang said in a joking manner.

"Not if I can help it," Ruby said taking out her giant scythe and charged the deathstalker.

"Ruby wait!" Yang said.

Ruby was still charging at the deathstalker, but when she was about to strike, the deathstalker hit her back. "D-don't worry! I'm totally fine!" she called back. She turned around and saw the deathstalker right there in front of her. She took a shot at the creature, with her scythe-gun-thing and began to retreat. "Ruby!" Yang called again and started to run to her aid. Lance followed Yang to try and help.

The nevermore then swooped down and shot its feathers towards the ground. One feather caught Ruby's cloak and halted the aid of Yang and Lance. The feathers barely missed the two as they were forced to stop to avoid the feathers. Ruby was tugging on her cloak, trying to break free, but to no avail. "Ruby! Get out of there!" Yang shouted.

"I'm trying!" Ruby shouted back.

The deathstalker reeled its tail back and plunged it forward. "RUBY!" Lance and Yang shouted. A flash of white flew past the two. Just before the killing blow, Weiss stopped the attack with a wall of ice. The creature's tail was caught in the ice and was struggling to break free.

"You are so childish." Weiss said.

"Weiss?" Ruby said

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit… difficult. But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know that I can do this." Ruby said looking up at Weiss.

"You're fine" Weiss said as she walked away.

Ruby got unstuck and looked at the deathstalker. Now that she was relatively calm, and had a close scrape with death, she now comprehended how dangerous that thing was. Yang rushed over and gave her sister a hug. Lance ran over too with a relieved smile on his face. He looked at the deathstalker and thought that they should leave before it gets unstuck. "Hey guys, I'm not trying to break up the moment, but that thing isn't gonna be stuck for long. We should leave," Lance said, voicing his thoughts. They both nodded and they went back to the group that was at the temple. The nevermore was circling at a high altitude and didn't seem like a threat… at the moment. Ruby and Juane were the last group to retrieve their relics. Ruby picked the knight and Juane picked the rook.

"Guys, that thing is circling back, what are we gonna do?" Juane asked.

"We have what we came here for," said Weiss.

"She's right. Our objective is to retrieve and artifact and make it back to the cliff. There's no point in fighting these things," Ruby said.

"So what's the plan? Are we high-tailing it?" Lance asked.

"Pretty much," Ruby said.

"Run and live. That is an idea I can get behind," Juane said.

"It's time we left," The guy in green said.

"Right. Let's go," Ruby said, leading the way. The group all followed.

They ran and found these old ruins that were built into the cliff they needed to be on. The nevermore flew in and landed on top of the tallest spire to scan the area for where they could've gone. The group split into smaller groups so they could have an easier time hiding. The nevermore made a shriek of anger. Shortly after the deathstalker broke through the forest they just came through. "_Just great_" Lance thought.

"Oh man. Run!" Juane shouted. Everyone broke out of cover and started to run towards the cliff. Nora took out her weapon. It looked like it was a grenade launcher. She shot the nevermore as it flung more feathers at her. She dodged all the feathers and continued to fire at the giant creature. The nevermore flew away to avoid getting shot at and the group continued running towards the cliff.

The group made it to a bridge that connected to the giant spire built into the cliff face, the deathstalker close behind. The nevermore swooped back around and crashed into the bridge, leaving Blake, The guy in green, and Pyrrha on the side that had the deathstalker, and Lance, Ruby, Yang, Juane, and that Nora girl on the other side. The group that was on the deathstalker's side began to fight it, giving their best efforts to at least hold it at bay. "We gotta get over there, they need our help," Juane said.

"Let's do this!" Nora said

"Yea, but, uh, I can't make that jump,"

Nora just smiled and knocked him back. She turned her grenade launcher into a… hammer? "_That's an interesting weapon_" Lance thought. She hit the end of the broken off bridge, which flung Juane to the other side. Nora just pulled the trigger on her weapon which fired a blast that propelled her to the other side. She used her momentum to slam her hammer down on the deathstalker. She noticed its tail reeling back to try and attack her. She shot off another blast which knocked her out of harm's way, but she knocked Blake off of the bridge. Blake used her weapon, which in this form was a knife gun thing attached to a ribbon or something, and threw it. It caught on another bridge and she swung herself towards the nevermore the other group was holding off. She used her weapon, this time in a katana mode and, and sliced the nevermore before landing to safety with the group attacking the nevermore.

"It's tougher than it looks," Blake said

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang said readying her gauntlets, which were also shotguns? "_Man, these are some crazy weapons_" Lance thought. Everyone prepped their weapons as the nevermore circled back around. Blake, Ruby and Yang were all shooting there weapons, while Weiss was using her dust to throw different elemental attacks at the bird. Lance used his semblance and felt his aura transfer to his sword. He then swung his sword and that energy he put into his sword was projected as a slash towards the bird. They continued their assault until it drew closer and crashed into the spire, causing it to collapse. The group all ran along the falling debris and made it to another bridge that was connected to the now half destroyed spire.

"None of this is working," Weiss said.

Ruby scanned the battle field. She saw all of her group's abilities and came up with a plan.

"I have a plan. Cover me!" she said as she dashed off.

The bird circled back, yet again. Its attention was directed towards Yang, who was shooting it all this time. Yang jumped and landed in its beak, she held it open and fired more rounds in its mouth. She jumped out and Lance used his semblance to move his aura to his feet and shoot himself up. He charged his sword again shooting another slash at the creature, which caused it to collide into the face of the cliff. Weiss used her dust to freeze the giant bird's tail feathers to the cliff. It struggled, but couldn't break free. She jumped back to where the group was.

Blake threw her weapon in its pistol-knife mode to Yang who attached it to the pillar she was on. Blake held the ribbon in place on the pillar she was on. Ruby jumped on her scythe and she landed on the ribbon. They basically constructed a giant slingshot with Ruby as the ammo, and the slingshot was aimed straight at the nevermore. Weiss used a glyph to hold Ruby in place to aim the shot.

"Of course you would come up with this idea," Weiss said.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Hm. Can I?"

"Can y-"

"Of course I can!"

Ruby loaded another round in the chamber of her gun-scythe and was flung towards the bird. She saw Lance running with her. "_How is he keeping up?_" she thought. She fired her weapon to gain even more momentum. She rammed her scythe into the bird's neck, as Lance jumped up and stabbed it in the gut. Weiss created glyphs that ran up the cliff face and Ruby started to run up the cliff dragging the nevermore by the neck with her scythe. Lance started to run up the bird's stomach, dragging his sword through it as he ran. When Ruby made it to the top of the cliff, the nevermore was decapitated by her momentum. Lance took one final stride and pulled his sword up as he jumped off of the now decapitated bird. Slicing it nearly in half. They both landed on the edge of the cliff as the nevermore's body fell from the great height.

Lance and Ruby both looked at each other and smiled. They then turned their attention to the two groups, as the other group finished fighting the deathstalker a while ago. "Well… that was a thing," Yang said to Weiss and Blake. They all stared up at the two surprised by how well the plan worked and how strong the two appeared to be. "_Wow. That worked._" Lance thought to himself. He stared out at the view from up there. He thought it was actually a pretty view, despite what had happened. He smiled and let out a sigh. _"This is going to be an interesting experience"_


	7. Chapter 7

**Another day another chapter. Or at least that's kind of what I want to do, but there's no guarantee that I can keep that up. I do have a life outside of typing, I've just been sick for a while and haven't been doing much. Anyways, I digress. I'll try keep updating frequently, but like I said, no guarantees. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave a review, but more; so enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Welcome to the Team**

"So, uhh. Why won't I be joining the graduation ceremony thing?" Lance asked

"Because, Professor Ozpin wanted to talk to you right after," Said Glynda

"I still don't understand why I can't at least watch it…" Lance mumbled.

He slumped down in the chair he was sitting in. They were both in Ozpin's office waiting for him to be done with the graduation ceremony. "_What exactly is it, I wonder what's going on? Maybe if I was there I'd know,_" he thought to himself. He looked at the ceiling and after a while closed his eyes, getting lost in thought. "_Man, if dad could see me, I bet he'd be proud_…" He sighed and put his elbows on his knees. _"I know better than to think about the past, but I have a hard time not thinking about it,_" He looked at the floor zoning out. "How long will the ceremony last?" Lance asked

"It'll last for about an hour to an hour and a half," Glynda responded.

Lance sighed making it clear that he was bored. Glynda didn't seem like she was much for talking and Lance didn't want to aggravate her. She seemed like the kind of person who you wouldn't want to get on their bad side.

Lance pulled out his scroll and decided to fiddle around with it. While he was fiddling around with it he noticed he got a message. He opened up his messages and noticed that it was from Ruby! Finally! Someone to save him from his boredom! He remembered Ruby, Juane, Yang, and Lance exchanged their information earlier so they could contact each other. The message read, "Hey Lance! The ceremony went great. You won't believe this, but I'm a leader of a team! It seems a little odd, but I'm really excited! The ceremony is just about wrapping up, so I thought I should let you know. I am a little curious as to why you couldn't show up, but you can tell me later! I'll see ya later! – Ruby,"

"_So she's a team leader? That's good for her, I'm happy for her,"_ Lance thought. He was also happy about the fact that it's almost done. He's been sitting there for a while now and was about to die of boredom. He looked at the time on his scroll and noticed a little over an hour has passed. Lance put away his scroll and just sat there in silence again.

After a little while longer Ozpin opened the door and went straight to his chair. "Whew, well that's one chore taken care of, now onto the next one," He said putting his elbows on his desk and interlocking his fingers. "Now, a while ago I said that you could have a choice as far as what team you can join. The time has come for you to decide. There are three teams open that you could join," He said pulling out a scroll and pulling up the three teams. "Now, take your time choosing. There is information about the individuals on the teams. I will give you some time to figure out which team you'd like to be on," He hands Lance the scroll and picks up a few papers. "If you'd like, I can leave the room while you decide," he said.

"Oh, it doesn't really bother me, and I don't think I'll take too long to decide," Lance responded.

He looked down at the scroll and saw three team names; CRDL, JNPR, and RWBY.

Team CRDL's leader was Cardin Winchester. He looks strong enough, but he didn't really know anybody on that team. He'd keep it in mind, but it's definitely not his first choice. The next team he saw was team JNPR. He saw that the leader was Juane Arc. A little odd that he's the leader, but hey for all he knew he was a strategic master... or... or something. He also saw that Pyrrha girl on the team too. She'd make a good ally, but he never actually really spoke to her, which isn't a big deal. He also saw that person from the forest with the long black hair. Lie Ren was his name. He also saw Nora Valkyrie. She was the girl with the crazy hammer-grenade launcher weapon. "_Well at least there's Juane I know on that team, and I'm sure I could get along with them easy enough,_" He thought. He looked at the final team, team RWBY. He looked and saw that this was Ruby's team. "_Oh great, the ice queen is on this team… but so is Yang and Ruby,_" He thought as he looked through the scroll. That Blake girl is also on that team. This team most appealed to Lance because he was comfortable around Ruby and knew Yang pretty well.

"Ozpin, I think I made my choice," Lance said putting the scroll back on the desk leaving it on team RWBY's page. Ozpin picked it up and gave a faint smile.

"I had a feeling you'd pick this team," Ozpin said.

Lance smiled, "A feeling, huh? Am I really that predictable?"

"Well, it's a good team to pick full of very capable students, and I think you'll fit right in," he said. "Let me just enter you into this team and I'll show you to your team,"

He began typing a few things in on his scroll and set it down.

"Now shall I bring you to your team?"

"Yea! Uh… sure," He said trying to hide his excitement.

They both got up and left the room and Lance was overjoyed to be a part of something again. For the longest time Lance had been on his own, and now it felt like he was beginning to have purpose again instead of just living day to day scraping along.

They made it to the team's room and Ozpin opened the door and let himself in, Lance following. The RWBY team all looked over at the guests in their room. "Hey Lance, Professor Ozpin. What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asked.

"Well Ruby, I thought I should introduce you to your new team-mate," He said putting a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"New team-mate? With all due respect professor, aren't teams made up of four people usually?" Weiss said.

"Well yes, usually, but he has no place else to go and he is a student here, so you wouldn't mind taking on one extra team-mate, would you?"

"I… I guess," Weiss said.

"Good. So Lance, about sleeping arrangements. There are only four beds here, so for now I can have someone bring you a cot. Will that do?"

"Yea, that's more than enough for me," Lance said.

"Good, I will have someone bring you a cot,"

"Thank you very much," said Lance.

Ozpin left and closed the door behind him, leaving Lance with the rest of the team.

"So welcome to team RWBY!" Ruby said.

"So you're the leader then, huh? Congratulations!"

Lance noticed Weiss give off a look of annoyance at that.

"So this is the team, huh? I think I've at least met all of you, but I figure I should introduce myself again. I'm Lance Azure,"

"Why so formal? Haha," Yang said wrapping an arm around Lance "You'll fit right in just fine, Lance. You don't need to be so formal, just, be yourself,"

"Well, formalities are nice, but I guess you're right. I mean we are all friends, haha," he said rubbing the back of his neck.

"We met briefly in the forest. I'm Blake Belladonna, it's nice to meet you under better circumstances," She said.

"Same," he said.

"So what brings you here to beacon?" Weiss asked in an accusing manner.

"Well, uh, the short version is-"

"I don't want the short version. Tell us the whole thing," she said.

"*Sigh* Ok. Well it started not too long ago actually. I was enjoying a nice peaceful night and then I saw a ship. It landed near where I was so I went to check it out. When I got there I saw a bunch of crooks unloading boxes of something onto cars. I also saw this guy called Roman Torchwick,"

"Wait, you fought Roman too?" Ruby asked.

"I guess. I didn't even know who he was until the next day when I saw him on the news,"

"You both fought him? Are you guys stupid or something?" Weiss broke in. "Why Ozpin would let you both into this school is beyond me,"

"Hey! In my defense I didn't even know who he was," Lance said in a defensive manner.

"That's not an excuse," Weiss said.

"What happened next?" Yang asked.

"Well, after I lost that fight-"

"Of course you lost," Weiss said.

"Aaanyways. After I lost the fight and was knocked out, I woke up to Ozpin there. It was weird and out of nowhere. We spoke and he asked if I was interested in joining his school. Of course I said yes, I mean… I've always have wanted to be a hunter and be a hero, just like in the stories and legends…" He smiled as he found himself talking about his dreams. He saw Yang nudge Ruby's arm and Ruby slapping it away. "We spoke and he told me to visit him the next day. So I did. He told me that I'd get to pick what team I joined – it was something about making it easier and they had an odd number of students. Anyways, he gave me a scroll and told me what to do when I get to beacon again. Now here I am," he said clapping his hands together and looking at the group.

"What were you doing before you came here?" Blake asked.

"Well… Basically just existing…" He said.

"That's not very descript," Weiss said.

"It's kind of, uuhh… hard to explain…" Lance said.

"What about family?" She asked.

"That's... another difficult topic..." He said looking down, sadness clearly showing.

"I see… well I understand," Blake said.

"I don't, but whatever," Weiss said looking away and crossing her arms.

"Don't mind her, you don't have to tell us anything you don't want to," Ruby said.

Lance smiled up at the group, despite Weiss' cold shoulder she was giving him.

"Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to working with you all," He said, his smile growing even bigger.

There was a knocking on the door at that instance. Yang, being closest to the door, went to answer it.

"Oh hey, it's your cot," she said taking the cot from the person who brought it and put it in the room.

"Thanks, Yang,"

"No sweat," she said.

"We should think about going to bed though. It'll be our first day of classes tomorrow and we should be well rested for it," Ruby said.

"I agree. Let's all hit the hay," Yang said. "If the cot gets too unbearable, my bed's open," Yang said winking at Lance.

Lance looked down a blushed. He didn't know what to say.

"Yang!" Ruby said.

She laughed at her sister's and Lance's responses. Blake just put her hand on her face while Weiss just gave Yang a glare. Yang just shrugged as she went to the restroom to change. "She can be difficult sometimes," Ruby said.

"I-It's nothing, no need to worry," Lance said, his cheeks still red.

They all got ready for bed and went to sleep. "_They all seem really nice. Well… most of them are anyways._" Lance thought. "_I'm looking forward to my experience here_" He thought as he drifted to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**So I wasn't able to post yesterday, even though the story was nearly done, but it's tough to post a chapter a day (so try not to expect it as often, but I'll try my best), and it worked out for the better. I started working on it again, finishing it up, but I decided to add an extra "Scene" to the story to help kind of tie it up. If you've seen the web series, then it's nothing too new, but I thought it made sense to add it in anyways. I hope you enjoy all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: The First Day**

Lance woke up to the earsplitting sound of a whistle being blown. He literally jumped out of his cot and landed on the floor. "Good morning team RWBY! Or would it be RWBYL? RWBY-A?" Ruby said. Lance also saw that he wasn't the only one rudely awakened by Ruby's whistle blowing. Weiss was also just as surprised as Lance was. "What's wrong with you?" Weiss asked.

"Anyways, now that you both are awake we can officially begin our first order of business," Ruby said. Lance rose from the ground and folded his blanket. "What's our first order of business?" Lance asked still half asleep.

"Decorating!" Yang said.

"What?" Weiss said.

"We still have to unpack," Blake said holding up a suitcase which then opened, spilling all of its content onto the floor. "Aaand clean,"

Weiss just stared at the three. She looked really annoyed. Ruby blew her whistle again surprising her yet again and making Lance flinch from the sound it made.

"Allll right! Weiss, Blake, Yang, Lance, and their fearless leader, Ruby, has begun their first mission," She said holding up her hand "Banzai!"

"Banzai!" Blake and Yang joined in holding their hands up too. Lance chucked at how goofy they were and decided to join in. "Banzai!" he said, joining them and mirroring their pose.

They all started helping to clean and decorate the room. Lance thought it was kind of fun actually. He was getting to know the group a little more. Certain things they did, what they had, and what a few of their interests were. When they were finished they noticed that it was a little overcrowded. "This… isn't going to work," Weiss said.

"It is a bit cramped," Blake said,

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff," said Yang.

"Or we could ditch the beds…" Ruby said. "And replace them with bunk-beds!"

"That sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss stated.

"And super awesome!" Yang exclaimed.

"I don't see the harm in bunk beds. It should definitely help with the space issue," Lance said.

"It does seem efficient," Blake agreed.

"Well, we should put it to a vote," Weiss said.

"I think we just did," Ruby replied.

They got to work making the bunk beds. When they were finished, the bunk beds looked like death traps. One bed was supported by a bunch of ropes, suspended over the other bed. The other bunk bed was just one bed stacked up on top the other with books.

"Well… Despite maybe not being the safest beds, they do look pretty cool," Lance said.

"All right! Our next order of business iiisss! Classes…" Ruby said plopping down on one of the beds and opening a book. "Now we have a few classes together today. At nine we've gotta be-"

"What!? Did you say nine-o-clock?" Weiss said.

"uhmm"

"Its eight-fifty-five you dunce!" And with the she ran out the door.

The entire team followed shortly after, trying to make it to class on time. As Lance was running he noticed team JNPR join up with them. They were probably running late as well. With only about five minutes to get to class, Lance didn't think too much about anything else other than getting to class on time.

"Monsters! Deeemons. Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey. Ha HAAaa hah… uhhh, and you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy," The professor, Port, said. He was a relatively big man, with a big moustache and grey hair, and he did seem a bit older."_I don't think I'll like this professor that much_" Lance thought. _"Maybe I'm just being too tough on him. I mean it is the first day, but so far it's a pretty… bad first day_,"

"Now as I was saying. Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our blah is absolutely blahing with blah that would blah blah blah..." Port said. Lance was zoning out. Losing interest fast, but he had to at least try to pay attention… or maybe he could copy the notes from one of his team members. After a while he saw Ruby drawing something. He looked over and saw what she was doodling. Lance let out a chuckle, because her doodle was of professor Port, or rather professor poop as what was drawn under the doodle of Port. Ruby chuckled too and showed it to the other team mates. He saw Yang have a laugh, but Weiss was not having it. She looked irritated and her look alone made Lance stop laughing and immediately look back to the lecture.

He looked back over at Ruby and saw she was goofing off. He started to chuckle again, but then he looked passed Ruby and saw Weiss' glare. "… So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits," Port said.

"I do, sir!" Weiss said, holding up her hand

"Well then, let's find out. Step forward and face your opponent," He said holding up an arm towards a cage that was rattling. It seemed like something was inside, and whatever it was, it wasn't too happy.

"You can go to the locker room quick and get into your battle attire and grab your weapon. We will wait for you here, but please do not take too long," He said.

Weiss got up and left the room. She seemed to walk with a certain purpose, but she also seemed to look upset too. Lance had an idea what it was about, but wasn't sure. "_How could Ruby irritate her that much? She looked more upset than usual. Did Ruby upset her that much?_" Lance thought looking at the door she just left through. He turned his attention towards the cage that was still rattling.

"Hey, Ruby." He asked tapping her shoulder.

"Hm?" She looked up at him.

"What do you think is in that cage?"

"Hmmm I dunno. I guess we'll just have to wait and see," She said.

"I guess… By the way that was a pretty accurate doodle," Lance jested.

She laughed at that. "You think? I'm not much of an artist, but I try my best," She joked.

Yang joined in to the chat too, moving over to Weiss' seat. Blake moved over to Yang's seat as well. "Weiss seemed upset, huh?" she asked.

"I noticed that too. She seemed more upset than usual," he joked. They all had a slight laugh at that.

"I wonder what's got her so upset?" she asked. "I mean would she get that upset if we didn't work, or is it something else that's bugging her?"

Weiss entered the room again wearing her combat clothes and had her rapier with her too. She took a battle position, readying for whatever might be thrown at her.

"Goooo Wiess!" Yang cheered.

"Fight well," Blake said.

"Show 'em what's up!" Lance yelled.

"Yeah! Represent teeeaam RWBYL!" Ruby cheered

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss said.

"Oh… sorry," Ruby apologized.

"_Well wait, we were cheering too, but she only got upset with Ruby. Is she really mad at Ruby?_" Lance thought.

"Oh, by the way, RWBYL doesn't make that much sense," Lance whispered to Ruby.

"I know, I didn't know what else to call our team," She whispered back

"Alright!" Port said, raising his axe-blunderbuss. "Let the match begin!" he said swinging his weapon down on the lock keeping the cage closed. The lock broke off and the cage door flung open. A weird bore-like Grimm emerged. It immediately charged at Weiss, but she rolled out of the way. "Ha HA, wasn't expecting that, were you?" Port said.

"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby cheered. Weiss charged at the boar-like Grimm, but Lance noticed that it seemed like she was gliding on the air. The boar charged as well and tried to hit her, causing her sword to get stuck in its tusks.

"C'mon Weiss! Show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered.

The Grimm then flung her sword across the room and knocked her down.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port said.

The creature charged her again. Weiss barely rolled out of the way causing the beast to ram into the wall. Weiss ran over and grabbed her weapon.

"Weiss! Go for its belly, there's no armor underneath!" Ruby shouted.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss shouted back at her.

The boar then rolled into a ball and rolled at a high speed towards Weiss. She activated her glyph, causing the boar to collide with that. The creature was flipped on its back. She activated another glyph above herself, jumped up onto it and leaped at the boar, stabbing it.

"Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training," Port said. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and… stay vigilant. Class dismissed,"

Weiss just left the room, not even waiting for her team. Lance was confused as to what could make her even more upset than she normally was. He had a hunch it had something to do with Ruby, but he didn't know what. The team all looked at each other with confused glances. "I'll try to talk to her," Ruby said getting up from her seat "I'll meet you up with you guys later," She said as she dashed out the door. The team let her go try to talk to her. "Well I guess we should get going," Blake said

"Yeah," Yang said.

Lance nodded in agreement.

The team got up and made their way out the door. Lance wondered how their chat is going and what's wrong with her team mate. Granted she wasn't the nicest person, Lance considered her as a friend, or a family member even, despite just barely knowing these people. He's been on his own for a long time, so the friends he just made he treasured. They all made their way to their next class, but Lance was a little worried about Ruby, and Weiss' chat. "_I hope it's going well,_" Lance thought, following Blake and Yang to their next class.

Later that night, the team was all asleep, except for Lance. For whatever reason he couldn't really sleep, so he was just tossing and turning. Earlier he noticed Ruby studying, which is good, but he didn't expect her to study. Now, though, she was asleep with all of her books and utensils strewn about her bed. He heard the door open and saw that it was Weiss. Lance pretended to be asleep so he wouldn't draw any unwanted attention.

He saw Weiss walk up to Ruby. She seemed a little surprised to see her studying. Weiss nudged Ruby's arm to try and wake her.

"Weiss!" She quietly exclaimed. "I was studying, and I fell asleep and I'm sorry,"

Weiss used a hand to cover her mouth to try and shush her. She put a finger to her lips to try get the point across that she should try to be quiet.

"How do you take your coffee?" Weiss asked.

"Uh. I-I don't-"

"Answer the question," Weiss said cutting her off.

"Cream and five sugars," she hurriedly said.

"Don't move," Weiss said as she went and got her a coffee.

"Here," she said, handing Ruby her coffee.

"Uhm… thanks Weiss," Ruby said.

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader… Just know that I am going to be the best team mate you will ever have," She said. Lance has never seen Weiss act nice. He didn't know she had the capacity to be nice! Lance thought it was really sweet, though, despite her normally cold appearances. "Good luck studying," She said about to get ready for bed. She hops back up to her and says, "That's wrong by the way," She said pointing to a question on Ruby's paper. With that she hops back down and starts to leave. As she makes it to the door she turns around. "Hey, Ruby," She said.

"Uh-huh?"

"I always wanted bunk beds as a kid," Weiss said as she left the room.


	9. Chapter 9

******Here's the next chapter! This was a tough one for me. So far I thought that most of what I wrote was pretty easy going, but I struggled a bit with this one. I still enjoyed it, but damn, it was hard. Well anyways, I'd appreciate it if you dropped a review, or PM me and tell me how I did. Anyways, enjoy chapter nine.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Opening Up**

Lance watched as he saw his friend, Juane, get the crap beaten out of him by that Cardin person. He was relentless in his attacks and seemed like a brutal opponent. Juane was having a rough time trying to fight Cardin. Lance felt sorry for his friend, but really couldn't do anything.

"Cardin, that's enough," Goodwitch said, stepping up in between the two. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel this would indicate that Juane is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match," She said. She turned her attention to Juane. "Juane, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it is better to move to a more defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowulf, now would we?"

"Speak for yourself," Cardin said as he walked off the arena. Lance didn't like Cardin talking down to his friend like that. Juane wasn't the best fighter, but that doesn't give that Cardin guy to be a jerk to him.

"Remember everyone, the Vytal festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale," Glynda said. Everyone seemed really excited about the festival, and to be honest, so was Lance. The bell rung then announcing that class was over. Lance got up and went off to lunch with his team.

* * *

Lance got his food and went to sit down with his team and team JNPR. Lance has had about a couple weeks to get to know everybody well enough. At least team JNPR and his team mates. He joined his friends and noticed Nora was telling a story. He quietly sat down to try not to interrupt the story. "Oh Lance! I started this story without you. We should start over," Nora said.

"Uh, no, no, it's all right," Lance said.

"She literally just started, you didn't miss much," Ruby said.

"So, anyways-" Nora said continuing her story. Lance didn't really listen to it. He picked up certain things like apparently she and Ren were surrounded by twelve Ursa and defeating them all and selling their pelts as rugs or something. Lance noticed Juane looked kind of down. He wasn't really touching his food either and he seemed deep in thought.

"Hey, Juane, are you all right?" Lance asked

"Huh? Oh, yeah, why?" he said snapping out of his thoughts.

"Well, it's just that you seem a little…not ok," Ruby said.

"It does seem like that," Pyrrha said.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, Look," He said giving them a thumbs up. "Eheheheh…"

They all notice laughing from a little ways away. They look over and see Cardin and his group of friends picking on a faunus girl who had, what looked like, rabbit ears.

"Juane, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school," Pyrrha said.

"Uh, who, Cardin Winchester? Nahaa, he just likes to mess around, ya know? Practical jokes," He responed.

"He's a bully," Ruby said.

"He's more than a bully…" Lance said glaring at him. Cardin was too preoccupied tormenting that poor faunus girl to even notice Lance's glare.

"Oh please, name one time he's 'bullied' me,"

Lance just looks over and raises an eyebrow at him.

"That one time with the locker," Lance said.

"I didn't land far from the sch-" Juane began to say.

"He LAUNCHED you off of school grounds," Lance said.

"Juane, you know if you ever need help you can just ask," Pyrrha said.

"OOH! We'll break his legs!" Nora said standing from her seat.

Lance just pointed at her with his fork and nodded his head. He was joking of course, but he was awfully tempted to though.

"Guys, really, it's fine. Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone," Juane said grabbing his trey and standing up.

"Ow! That hurts!" a voice said. It was that faunus girl. Lance saw Cardin tugging on her ears. "Please, stop,"

"I told you they were real," Cardin said to his buddies.

"What a freak!" one of them said.

He let go of the faunus girl's ear and she walked away.

Lance slammed his fists on the table, startling everyone. He wasn't normally like this. None of them have ever really seen his angry side, granted he did occasionally get fed up with Weiss, but he never really was as mad as he was now. "That's it," Lance said getting up and leaving his trey at the table.

"Lance, wait!" Ruby said.

He ignored her. He kind of felt bad, but he was on a mission. He walked over to Cardin and his group with clenched fists.

"Hey Cardin," Lance said, anger clear in his voice. He was holding back, he didn't want to yell and make a bigger scene than he thought he might be making already.

"Who are you?" Cardin said getting up and walking over to him. He was noticeably taller than Lance, but Lance was still pretty tall with that being said.

"Lance, but that's not important. What is important is your treatment of people," Lance said.

"People? You mean that faunus? She's a freak,"

"Don't call her that!" Lance said.

"Oh yea? And what are you gonna do about it?" he said giving a cocky smile.

"I thought I'd be kind and give you a warning. Don't mistreat people who didn't even do anything to you,"

"Very threatening. Ya know what? I'm gonna teach you a lesson in not to mess with me," He said raising a fist. He threw the punch, but Lance caught his fist. Lance was looking for an excuse to lash out, and he just gave him one. Lance kneed Cardin in the stomach and he reeled back.

"Don't make a bigger fool of yourself than you already have," Lance said, taking up a fighting stance.

Cardin charged him, but Lance stepped out of the way of his attack, slapping him in the back of the head as he ran passed him.

"Grr. You'll pay for that. Watch your back. C'mon guys," He said as he took his leave.

Lance walked back to his table.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see that. I couldn't stand by and let him get away with that," Lance said sitting back down.

"Lance, that was really brave of you," Ruby said.

"It was pretty cool of you," Yang said.

"And reckless," Weiss broke in.

"That was pretty reckless, but very chivalrous. I'm glad it didn't escalate like I thought it might have, but you handled that well," Pyrrha said.

"Thanks, I didn't want it to become a huge fight, but I wanted to make a point," Lance said. "Even if I did make a bigger scene than I wanted to, but I think I may have went a little over board,"

"Nah, that was pretty rad," Yang said.

"Well, heh, thanks," Lance said rubbing the back of his neck.

"We should get to class though. We don't want to be late," Weiss said picking up her trey.

* * *

Lance kind of liked this teacher. His name was Oobleck. He had green messy hair and a white collared shirt, which was half tucked in. He also had a yellow tie and wore dark green pants. His teaching style was fast, but he didn't mind. It made class a little more interesting. Not to mention Lance did like history, which was that class Oobleck taught. He was explaining the faunus rights revolution. Lance was busy taking some notes on the major topics.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Oobleck said. Weiss then raised her hand.

"Yes," Oobleck says acknowledging her.

"The battle at Fort Castle," She answered.

"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over general Lagoon's forces?"

"H-hey?" Juane said. Lance saw Cardin laughing a bit and figured he did something to Juane to startle him a bit.

"Mr. Arc, finally contributing to class! This is excellent, excellent! What is the answer?" Oobleck said.

Juane looked very confused. Lance noticed that he was asleep earlier in class and he probably didn't know what was going on.

"Uhhh, the answer… The advantage, uh, the faunus had over that guy's stuff…"Juane said.

Lance saw Pyrrha trying to help Juane by trying to motion to her eyes.

"Uh, Binoculars!" Juane said.

The class had a slight chuckle at that answer he gave. Mr. Oobleck didn't seem so amused.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin, perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject," Oobleck said.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a solider," He said.

"You're not the most open minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha said looking over at him.

"What? You got a problem?" He said.

"No, I have the answer. It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark," she said.

Cardin just seemed upset at her.

"General Lagoon was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured," Blake said. "Perhaps if you'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure,"

Cardin got up from his seat and clenched his fists, glaring at both Pyrrha and Blake.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat," Oobleck said. Juane chuckled at how Cardin got in trouble. "You, and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings,"

Juane looked down and seemed distraught. "_I guess I would be pretty upset too if I was assigned additional readings and have to stay after class with that Cardin jerk,"_ Lance thought.

Class ended and Lance walked out with Blake and Weiss. Lance looked back to see team JNPR heading out as well, but he noticed Pyrrha wait at the door. "Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later," Lance said, meeting up with Pyrrha at the door. "Hey, you waiting up for Juane?" Lance asked.

"Yea… I worry about him. I think he has potential, but I think he needs that extra push," Pyrrha said.

"He'll be all right," Lance said.

"What makes you say that?"

"I just have faith in him. That and he has good friends," Lance said smiling at Pyrrha.

At that moment a rush of green flew passed them. Upon further inspection he noticed it was Professor Oobleck. Juane and Cardin shortly followed. Cardin then pushed Juane down and started to walk away. Lance couldn't stand by and let this bully hurt his friend.

Lance caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Hey, what the he-" Cardin said, but was cut off by Lance.

"You. Me. We're fighting tonight after classes at eleven in the school's sparring room," Lance said glaring at him.

"Heh, you think a scrawny guy like you can beat me? Hehe, alright, you're on. I'll see you there loser," He said yanking his arm from Lance's grip. Lance just starred him down as he turned the corner. _"I've never really hated anyone in my life… up until now,"_ Lance thought. He then left for his next class. "_At least Cardin won't be in that class_…" He thought.

* * *

Lance lied down on his cot thinking about his fight in two hours. He was the only one in the dorm because his friends were hanging out and he wanted to think and prep his mind for the fight. In all honesty he just wanted some time to think. He lied there, with his eyes closed, lost in thought about his past. His peace was interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

He sat up on his cot and saw the person who had opened the door. It was Ruby.

"Hey Ruby," Lance said.

"Hey Lance," She said waving a hand. "What are you up to?"

"I'm just sitting here, just kind of… hanging out I guess," Lance said standing up from his cot.

"We should try and find you a bed. You can't sleep in the cot forever," She said.

"I don't mind really. Although I guess a bed would be nice, or something,"

"What are you doing here? Everyone's hanging out and you're here," She said.

"Well I… just needed some R&R," he said. Ruby could tell he was lying.

"Are you sure you just needed some 'R&R'?" she asked.

"*sigh* No," He said plopping down on one of the beds.

"What's wrong?" She asked sitting down next to him.

"Well it's partially that Cardin guy… I kind of scheduled a fight with him in about two hours,"

"You're gonna fight Cardin?"

"Well yea, I guess… But that's only part of it…"

"Well, what's the other part of it?" Ruby asked with an inquisitive look.

"Well for some reason this fight with Cardin got me thinking, and when I think my mind wanders to… topics I really don't want to think about," Lance said looking down and putting his hands on his knees.

"What kind of topics? I mean, if you want to talk about it," she said thinking that it was kind of rude to just ask that after he said it was a topic he didn't want to think about.

"I guess it would be nice to talk to someone about it," he said as he let out a sigh. "But please don't tell anybody else. I haven't told anyone about my past, or my… or my family…"

"I won't tell anyone," She said.

"Well… Basically I've been by myself for three years… I didn't really ever talk to anyone and I didn't have an actual job. I scrounged money by taking any job I could, but I couldn't hold onto one for long. When I didn't have a job I tried to take the law into my own hands. I fought crime whenever I could and that's part of how I learned how to fight," He said. Ruby was still listening intently. "I mean… those three years were a tough time in my life, and believe it or not, I wasn't always scrounging for money, jumping from job to job… I actually lived with a really wealthy family. We moved from Vale to Vacuo because my father had a job opportunity. Life was good and I didn't have a care in the world. Although I didn't do too well in school and eventually dropped out, as you know. The reason I dropped out was because I lost a big tournament my father signed me up for. I lost… big time… He was disappointed in me and I felt awful. Shortly afterwards I left… I acted on my emotions and ran away. I took my father's sword I inherited and left with nothing but that and the clothes on my back. I found my way to Vale and basically just existed. I felt like I had no purpose in the world… I look back and regret running away. Leaving my mom, my dad, and my sister for dumb reasons…" Lance said. He never has bared his soul before to anyone. Ruby had a sad look on her face.

"It's one of my biggest regrets… I know I can't ever go back to them… I don't think it'd ever be the same… especially after this… My father is a proud man, and the look on his face when I lost that match…" Lance felt tears well up in his eyes, but he forced them back. "What really made me want to run away was the way he looked at me… I saw disappointment in his eyes and I couldn't stand it… He wouldn't talk to me, and he would go out of his way to ignore me… I felt like an outcast… He even told me to leave and never come back…" Lance was fighting as hard as he could not to cry.

He felt Ruby's hand in his. He looked over to see Ruby a few tears streaming down her face.

"I've never really… told anyone about this before," He said looking into her silver eyes.

"I'm sorry," She said. She didn't really know what else to say.

"It's ok… that's the past and I have to try and look to the future, but… that can be hard… I will always remember the look in his eyes, and what he said to me the night I left…" He felt Ruby wrap her arms around him. He returned the embrace.

"I'll be there for you," She said. "I promise, I'll be there for you,"

"Thanks, Ruby… it means a lot… I consider you guys family… If you need anything, I'll be there for you too," He said. They stayed that way for a while before they ended the embrace. Lance noticed that Ruby still had a tear streaming down her cheek, so he wiped it away.

"Thanks, Ruby," He said giving her a smile, which she returned. He looked at the clock and noticed that he had a half-hour until he had to fight Cardin.

"I have to go now," he said as he got up. Ruby grabbed his hand as he was about to leave.

"Don't go, Cardin is a jerk, but still… I mean… you shouldn't fight him…" She said.

"I have to, I'm sorry," He said. "I can't back down now,"

"Ok…" She said.

"I'll be ok, Ruby. Trust me," he said as he opened the door. "And Ruby… thanks again," He said as he closed the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok, this one is a bit of a shorter chapter, but it has a fight in it! So I guess that's something. Also I am starting to kind of add in my own ideas and such so I thought I should mention that it may not follow as closely to the original story, but it's not going to TOTALLY follow the story. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this shorter chapter and I'll try to update again soon!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Challenge**

Lance felt like a weight was lifted off of his back. He smiled as he made his way down the hallway towards where the sparring arenas were. He had a fight with Cardin and he wasn't going to lose. He continued walking down the hallways until he made it to the arena. Lance pulled out his scroll and noticed that he was a little early.

Lance made his way to where the light switch was and flipped it. He noticed Cardin was there, with his mace resting on his shoulder.

"Huh, looks like you did decide to show up," Cardin said.

"Why wouldn't I?" Lance said walking up to the arena to meet him there.

"Good, because I'm gonna enjoy this," Cardin said getting into a fighting stance. Lance drew his sword and took up a fighting stance as well.

"I also hope you don't mind if my team is here to watch me beat the tar out of you," Cardin said.

Lance noticed Cardin's team stand there on the sidelines. Lance didn't really care, but he did feel uneasy about it. Lance by himself with Cardin and his whole team there seemed sketchy to him, but he couldn't back down now, no matter what happened. Lance just nodded in response, adjusting his stance.

Cardin rushed Lance right away. There was no sign that the match started or anything, but Lance was ready. He blocked the over-head strike. Lance then tried to take a swipe at him with his sword, but his blade was met with his mace. Lance tried to attack again, but was again blocked by Cardin's mace. _"He's better at fighting than I thought,_" Lance thought. Cardin kicked Lance which made him stumble back. Cardin swung his mace at Lance and it made contact, sending Lance across the Arena. Lance got up and took up a fighting stance again. He then charged him. Cardin blocked his attack. Lance then swiftly rolled to Cardin's left and took another swing, this time making contact. He was able to land another two hits before Cardin took a swing, which Lance easily dodged.

Cardin lashed out at Lance, trying to hit him with his many strikes, but Lance dodged or parried them all. Lance saw an opening in Cardin's ruthless onslaught of attacks and took it. He slashed Cardin, knocking him back a bit. Lance tried to continue the attack, taking another swing. He continued to hit him another three times before Cardin fell to the ground.

"Grr… I underestimated you," Cardin said getting up. "You know, I'm glad I brought back up,"

"What?" Lance asked before it clicked in his head. Before he had time to react he was grabbed and disarmed.

"I should've expected something from yo-" Lance said, but was cut off because of the punch thrown to his stomach.

"Heh, that felt good," Cardin said rubbing his knuckles. "There's more where that came from too. You're in for a treat, Lance," he said throwing another punch.

"_I should've seen this coming… I… I was clumsy and foolish,_" Lance thought, receiving a blow to his face.

Lance tried to break free and struggle, but to no avail. Two of Cardin's team members were restraining him, and try as he might, Lance couldn't break free. Lance took another punch, and another, and another.

"Lance!" a voice came from the entrance. Lance looked over to see that Ruby was running towards the arena with the team and team JNPR following. Lance was dropped and he fell on his hands and knees trying to recuperate from the beating he was dealt. Yang went to help him up, putting his arm over her shoulder and picking him up.

"How could you do this?" Pyrrha asked.

"What? He challenged me to a fight," Cardin said shrugging.

"That didn't look like a fight. That looked like a beating," Ruby said.

"Whatever," Cardin said, leaving the room with his team following.

"Lance, are you ok?" Ruby asked running up to him.

"Yeah… I think I'll be fine… Gah!" Lance said trying to walk but grabbing his torso in pain.

"Lance, you're not ok… We need to get you to the room and get someone to look at you," Blake said.

"I don't want to get any of the staff involved… I don't want them to know about this fight," Lance said.

"We should at the very least get you some rest," Jaune said nervously.

Lance looked at all of his friends. They all seemed concerned about his wellbeing, and despite his pain, he couldn't help but thinking that he belonged, and he was happy.

"Rest would be nice," He said.

* * *

Lance laid there in one of the beds resting. He was rethinking about the fight and how careless he was. He was upset with himself, but then he thought of his friends. He smiled as he thought of having people who care about him, and having people he cared for. His team was getting ready for bed at the moment, so Lance was alone in the room. It was pretty late and Lance thought that he should try get some sleep as well. Closing his eyes he drifted off to sleep.

He woke up to Ruby and Yang standing over his bed. Lance was a little surprised, but was flattered that they were worried. "Good morning," Lance said.

"Yeah… Good morning," Ruby said, still seeming worried.

"I'll be fine, you know," Lance said slowly sitting up.

"Are you sure? I mean you didn't look fine last night," Yang said sitting down on the bed

"If they hadn't taken me by surprise I totally would've had them," Lance said. They both looked at him with concern in their eyes.

"Lance… just be careful, ok? Those guys are shady and will use anything to their advantage," Ruby said.

"Ok, I'll be more careful," Lance said looking up at the two giving a reassuring smile. They smiled back at him.

"I should get up and get ready for class though," Lance said pulling off the covers and getting up. He still was sore, but it wasn't as bad as it was last night.

"Are you sure you should go to classes today? We can say that you're sick if you want to rest more," Ruby said.

"I'm still sore, but it's tolerable," Lance said.

"What a trooper!" Yang said standing up. "Just don't push yourself too much,"

"I'll be careful," Lance said. He noticed that Weiss and Blake weren't in the room and he became curious as to where they went.

"Where's Weiss and Blake?" He asked.

"They're still at breakfast. We wanted to check in on you and see if you were ok," Ruby said.

"Oh, well if there's still time you can go back and tell them I'm ok and I'll meet you in class," Lance said.

"And leave you here alone while you're still potentially hurt? Nuh-uh," Yang said.

"That and there isn't much time left before breakfast is over," Ruby said.

"So you get ready and we'll all go to class together," Yang said.

Lance just nodded and smiled. He felt a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose. He has a new family now that he can rely on and who can rely on him. He went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He brushed his teeth then turned on the shower.

"If you need help with anything in there, just let me know," Yang said.

"Yang!" Ruby said.

Lance just laughed at how goofy they were and continued getting ready for the day.

* * *

Lance was back in professor Port's class listening to his lecture. He was getting used to his boring lectures and was getting better at paying attention. He was taking some notes on the Beowolf and their nuances and fighting tactics. For example they tend to travel in packs and are vicious fighters, as are most, if not all, creatures of Grimm. Lance noticed Ruby was asleep and thought he would give her a small nudge.

She woke up and looked over at Lance. "What did I miss?" Ruby asked.

"A few notes," Lance whispered pointing to his notebook. "I just thought you might want to stay awake or something,"

Ruby gave a tired smile and nodded as she went to her notebook.

Lance got back to his notes too.

"Hey Ruby…" Lance whispered.

"Hm?" she said looking over to him.

"Thanks for this morning…" Lance said. "I want to tell Yang thank you as well, and I should probably thank everyone for showing up last night,"

"It's no problem Lance, you're part of a team and you're a good friend. I had a feeling that Cardin would do something underhanded like that. I'm glad we could show up in time before anything worse might have happened," She said.

Lance gave a smile and turned his attention back towards the lecture and writing down notes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry I've taken so long to post. Things just popped up, one after the other. First I had huge writers block and couldn't figure out what to type. Then I get sick. Then once I had this chapter typed up and looked over, my internet goes down so I can't post. It was frustrating and I just wanted to post this, but now I can! This chapter may be a bit short, but it will kind of thicken the plot, I guess? I don't know, just read and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Red Forest**

Lance and the group was excited about the upcoming field trip to the Forever Fall Forest. Professor Peach had told the class about a week in advance and students were excited. It was also a good excuse to get out of classes, at least for a little while. They were all getting on a small air ship that would transport them to the Forest of Forever Fall. Glynda Goodwitch would be supervising the trip.

"So what are we doing in the Forever Fall Forest again?" Lance asked.

"We're supposed to be getting sap from the trees there," Blake said.

"Not the most exciting thing, but it's better than classes," Lance said.

"I'm with ya there. It'll be nice to get out and not worry about assigned readings or homework," Yang said.

"You both are just slackers," Weiss said.

"Hey, I do work!" Lance said.

"Hah, Barely," Weiss said.

Lance just shrugged it off. He was annoyed, but he knew that he wouldn't get anywhere arguing with her.

"How much longer do we have until we get there?" Yang asked.

"Well, judging by the red trees outside I'd say we're here," Ruby said.

They all looked out the window and saw the Forever Fall forest. It was a sight to behold. All of the trees had beautiful red leaves and they were everywhere. Lance had never seen the Forever Fall Forest before so he was quite excited to check it out.

They touched down at the landing spot and disembarked the ship.

"All right, class. Grab the supplies we brought and follow me," Goodwitch said. All of the students grabbed their things and followed her. Team JNPR was with them as well, but so was team CRDL. Jaune has been hanging out with that Cardin jerk for a while and Lance was baffled as to why. Lance had an odd feeling about the whole thing.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure that none of you die while doing so," Glynda said. She then stopped and turned around to face the students. "Each of you is to gather one jars worth of red sap, however, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your team-mates. We will rendezvous back here at four-o-clock. Have fun,"

Everyone went out to find a tree and retrieve the sap. Lance found a tree that he thought would work well enough and started the process to get the sap into the jar. After a while, he finished filling up the jar and went to check up on everyone else. He checked and noticed nobody really needed help, but Lance was bored and wanted someone to talk to, or goof off with, seeing that he was already done. He walked over to where Yang was and kneeled down next to her.

"Hey, how's it going?" Lance asked.

"Oh, hey Lance. It's going pretty good. This project is less exciting than I thought it would be though," She said.

"You expected gathering jars of sap to be exciting?" He said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"No, but you know what I mean," She said playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

"I hear ya, but I really don't mind it a whole lot. For starters I've never even seen the Forest of Forever Fall. This is my first time ever being here, so it's pretty cool. At least to me anyways," He said.

"I've been here a few times before. It is really pretty here," She said.

"It is, isn't it?" he said looking at all the trees and their unique red color. "Hey, Yang… about last week… I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out. I thanked Ruby and wanted to thank all of you guys, but… I couldn't find the right time to say it, so I thought I should just get it out now instead of waiting,"

"That's sweet, Lance. You don't need to thank me. I was just looking out for someone I cared for…" Yang said as she grabbed his hand. "I mean you have been looking out for my sister and have been helping her with her homework. You've also been a good friend these last couple of weeks, and I'm glad I have a friend like you,"

"I'm glad I'm on the team I am… and I'm have a friend like you too," Lance said putting his other hand over hers. They stayed there in silence for a little while, staring into each other's eyes, both not really knowing what to say, but the silence didn't really bother Lance. After a little while he looked down and noticed the jar was overflowing with sap.

"Uhm, Yang. The jar is kind of overflowing," Lance said.

"Oh crap!" Yang said quickly attending to her jar of sap. Lance just laughed at her reaction.

"Hey, you guys finished collecting sap?" Ruby said walking up to the two. Lance turned around to face her.

"Yeah, pretty much. I think your sister got a little more than she needed though," Lance said.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! Lance distracted me!" Yang said pointing at Lance in accusation.

"Riiigght," Lance said sarcastically. Ruby got a small laugh out of the exchange.

"Well, everyone is about ready, I think, so I wanted to check up on you guys," Ruby said.

"I think that we're ready too. Let's meet up with everyone else," Lance said.

"I second that," Yang said standing up.

They all went to meet up with the rest of their class mates. There were still a few people from the two teams at some trees finishing up collecting sap. It looked like Nora was eating some of the other people's sap. Lance made sure he held his jar close to him and would try pay extra attention to it, because it looked like Nora was really good at stealing this sap from unsuspecting 'prey'. He also noticed that team CRDL nowhere to be seen, and Jaune was missing too. Lance had a bad feeling about it.

"Where's Jaune?" Lance asked when he walked up to Pyrrha.

"I don't know. Last I saw he was with Cardin and his team… I don't like him spending his time with that team," She said.

"I don't like it either… I'm gonna try and find him. I have a bad feeling about this," Lance said.

"I don't know if you should," She said, grabbing his wrist as he was walking off.

"He could be in trouble, I have to go and check," He said.

"You have to be careful, Lance. It's Cardin and his team we're talking about. Remember the last time you tried to stand up to them…" She said.

"They took me off guard. I can handle myself, trust me," He responded.

All of the sudden Cardin's team came running from the trees towards the group, but Cardin and Jaune weren't with them.

"URSA! URSA!" One of them was yelling.

"What? Where?" Yang asked.

"Back there! It's got Cardin!" he said pointing in the direction they came from.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said.

"Yang, you and Blake go get professor Goodwitch," Ruby said.

"You two go with them," Pyrrha ordered Ren and Nora. "There could be more of them,"

Lance ran ahead, worried about Jaune and wanting to check and see if he was ok. Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha quickly caught up to him and they continued to run in the direction they thought Jaune and Cardin were in.

They arrived and noticed Jaune was fighting the Ursa and Cardin was on the ground, and for some reason he had a lot of sap on his breastplate. Lance, Weiss, and Ruby readied their weapons to help Jaune. "Wait," Pyrrha said. They all watched as Jaune was struggling, but valiantly fighting this Ursa. Lance wanted to help his friend, badly, but decided to listen to Pyrrha. Jaune then was about to go for what looked like a killing blow, but so was the Ursa. His shield was lower than it should be if Jaune was going to deflect the Ursa's attack. Lance noticed Pyrrha hold up her hand and saw Jaunes shield significantly rise. The shield successfully blocked the attack and Jaune landed a massive hit, decapitating the giant Ursa.

"How did you…?" Weiss asked.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs, my semblance is polarity," Pyrrha said.

"Ah, you can control poles," Ruby said.

"No you dunce, it means she has control over magnetism," Weiss said.

"…Magnets are cool too…" Ruby said.

Pyrrha started to walk back to where the rest of the class was.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened," Ruby said.

"We could… Or perhaps we could just keep it our little secret," Pyrrha said.

Lance looked back at Jaune. He never seemed like the type to decapitate an Ursa, but Lance was proud of him. Lance knew he had it in him. He even went over to help Cardin up. Showing mercy to his tormenter. Lance was even more proud of him. He decided to head back and meet up with everyone else.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, another chapter down. I really enjoyed typing this chapter too. Something about it feels right to me, but you all can decide. Anyways, I added a new OC character at the request of Azure Flame Knight12, so watch out for him too. I hope you guys like this chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 12: An Old Friend**

"Hey! I'm heading out to grab some supplies, you guys need anything?" Lance asked.

"Could you get some fire dust? I am kind of running out and if you're heading out, that'd be great!" Yang said.

"I'm fine," Weiss said.

"I'm fine too," Ruby said,

"I'm ok," Blake said, looking up from her book.

"Ok, well I'm off. If you need me contact me on my scroll," Lance said. "See ya,"

Lance closed the door to the dorm and started to head out towards the entrance of Beacon. He was able to get to the downtown of Vale pretty quick. Once he got there, he went to a few stores and got a few groceries, such as a few of his favorite snacks and drinks and thought that his team mates would like some of the stuff he picked out. His final stop was the dust shop. Lance's weapon really didn't use dust, but Lance thought about modifying his weapon to maybe use dust in some way, but he didn't want to tamper with the weapon. He treasured the weapon because it reminded him of the good parts of his past, granted Lance knew his dad was kind of a strict jerk, he still loved him.

Lance looked around the shop and found some fire dust, so he grabbed it and decided to head to the counter to pay for it. The man running the shop was pretty old, but he seemed very pleasant.

"Hey," Lance said.

"Hello, is that all for you today?" The man asked.

"Yeah, that'll do it I think," He said.

"Ok, that'll be-" The man was cut off mid-sentence

"Lance!?" The voice that cut the man off said. "Is that you?"

The person who showed up looked familiar to Lance. He didn't seem much younger than Lance, if not the same age. He had black spikey hair, with dark brown eyes. He also had a black shirt on and had dog tags, though he didn't seem like the military type. He also had dark brown cargo pants that had a chain hanging from the pocket. He wore what looked like steel toed boots and had these crazy knuckle like weapons with blades on them hanging from his belt. The weapons reminded Lance of claws of some sort. The guy was pretty lanky and not nearly as tall as Lance, but he was a respectable height, but the hair and the face reminded him of an old friend. Maybe it was… "Sora Neverwinter?" Lance asked.

"It IS you! Man, I had a hunch, and I'm glad I was right!" Sora said.

"What are you doing in Vale? Last I saw you were in Vacuo," Lance said.

Lance looked over and noticed the old man patiently waiting for him.

"Uh, one second. Let me pay for this real quick and we can catch up," Lance said.

He paid for the dust and the two made it outside. They decided to grab a drink while they caught up, so they went to the nearest café. They managed to get seats outside and ordered their drinks.

"So, where did you go Lance? I just one day heard you vanished. There was rumor that you actually died," Sora said. "I'm a little peeved you left, but at the same time relieved you're here, sitting right in front of me!"

"It's kind of complex, but I'll try give you the quick version. But first, do you remember way back when I fought in that tournament?" Lance asked.

"Yeah,"

"Well then you remember that I lost… After losing my father wasn't quite the same. He tried to avoid me and he even told me he was disappointed in me. He wasn't the same… So because I caused him that pain, I left. I went to Vale because it was the only place I kind of know compared to everywhere else in remnant. I mean I was born here and spent a bit of my life here," Lance said.

"So what are you doing now? I see you have your sword, so are you a mercenary or something?" Sora asked.

"No, I actually am attending Beacon Academy,"

When Sora heard that, he spat his soda out. It drew a lot of weird looks, but he always was dramatic and goofy.

"How did you get into Beacon!? That's, like, one of the most prestigious schools ever! You're telling me you're going to be a hunter?"

"Well, yeah I guess," Lance said.

"Man, it's like when we were kids and we were playing with sticks pretending to be hunters! Except I guess I'm not really a hunter, but I am content," Sora said.

"I was about to ask, what are you doing now?" Lance said after taking a sip of his tea.

"Well, I'm a mercenary. I take some odd jobs and kick a few asses, so I really enjoy it," He said.

"Mercenary huh? It sort of suits you. Just be careful with some of the jobs you take. There are some shady people out there," Lance said.

"Eh, a job's a job," Sora said.

They both kind of chuckled at that. It wasn't really funny, it was just how Sora said it. He hasn't really changed at all from when Lance was a kid.

"So how are your folks?" Lance asked.

"They're doing well. I don't see them a lot because of my line of work,"

"That's understandable. It seems like there would be a lot of traveling and stuff,"

"It's not traveling, it's my parents not being ok with it," He said laughing. Lance got a laugh out of it too.

"So is there any love interests in your life?" Sora said knowing full well that Lance was never really was comfortable talking about such things.

"Well uuhh, I mean there's really no one, I guess… I mean… you know," Lance said. Sora just gave Lance a look that said I see right through you.

"Really? No one?" Sora said putting his elbows on the table and folding his hands under his chin.

Lance just let out a sigh before speaking. "I guess there is a girl… or two that I kind of… like…" Lance looked down trying to hide his red face from his friend. Sora had a huge grin on his face.

"Two huh? Lance you dog," He said smirking.

"Well, what about you?" Lance asked trying to get Sora to stop pestering him.

"Well, being a mercenary keeps me busy and I do get to travel occasionally, but I haven't had anything long term. Just a few flings is all," He said.

Lance still seemed a little flustered and embarrassed and Sora could tell.

"Geez Lance, you never really were good on these sorts of topics," He said "You always got embarrassed, especially if there WAS someone you liked,"

"Yeah, yeah," Lance said trying to shrug it off.

"Well hopefully I can meet them some day. I don't know how well having two girlfriends will go, but maybe that's something you have to work out. Regardless, I'd still like to meet them," Sora said.

Lance took out his scroll and noticed that it was getting pretty late.

"Hey, it's getting a little late and I need to get back to the dorms, but you should have my contact information," Lance said.

Sora agreed and they exchanged their contact information. They both went their separate ways and Lance made his way back to Beacon.

* * *

When Lance got back he noticed his team mates were out. Lance decided that once he put all of the stuff he got away, he would try get a hold of one of them. Lance went to work at putting all of the things away. He found a few spots for the snacks and decided that he would hand Yang her dust in person. There wasn't a whole lot to put away so Lance finished pretty quick. Once he was done he pulled out his scroll and messaged Blake asking where they all where. After a little while he got a response saying that they were in the middle of dinner. Lance sent another message back saying that he would join them. Lance then left the dorm room and made his way to the cafeteria.

Lance got some food and quickly spotted his normal group at their normal spot. Lance went over and sat down next to Yang. "Hey, how'd shopping go?" She asked.

"It went well. I got you that dust you wanted," He said as he handed her the package that contained the dust. It wasn't really that big.

"Thanks! I owe you one," She said.

"Don't worry about it. Also sorry about being so late. I kind of got caught up,"

"Caught up how?" Ruby said.

"Well I met up with an old friend and we talked," Lance said.

"An old friend, huh? What's his, or her, name?" Yang asked.

"His name is Sora Neverwinter. He's actually only a year younger than me and I grew up with him," Lance said.

"Is he nice?" Jaune said deciding to join their conversation.

"Yeah, but he can be… energetic at times. He is a really nice guy with the best intentions at heart, but he can be very rash sometimes. At least that's how he was. I haven't seen him in a really long time, so things could've changed," Lance said.

"You haven't seen him in a long time? Like how long?" Yang asked.

"About three or four years," Lance said.

"That's quite a while. What happened? Did you guys just kind of drop contact, or something?" Yang asked.

"If anything I kind of dropped contact…" Lance said. There was a look of sadness on his face and they all started to notice a bit. By now the whole group was listening in on the chat.

"What happened?" Nora asked.

"I don't think that's a very appropriate question," Ren said.

"No, it's fine. I trust you guys and I think it'd be ok if you guys want to know," Lance said. He looked around and saw that he had all of their attention.

"Ok, I guess I should start from the beginning," Lance said.

Lance told his story that he told Ruby and Sora and the group was a little surprised. When Lance got done telling his story the group was silent for a bit.

"You ran away from home? That'd be very difficult, especially at such a young age," Pyrrha said.

"Geez… to be alone for that long would be tough," Jaune said.

Lance felt Yang's hand clasp down on his shoulder. When he looked into her eyes though he saw compassion mixed with sympathy. It was a rather interesting mix of emotions to see, but Lance felt like he was actually accepted and he was glad that he opened up to them. It may have not been the most opportune place to talk, but still, Lance was glad.

After Dinner they all went back to their dorms. Before Lance could enter his dorm though, Lance felt a hand grab his wrist to prevent him from continuing. Lance looked over to see who the owner of the hand would be and found out that it was Yang who stopped him. She had a somewhat serious look about her, but also sympathy. "Hey, Lance… Could I talk to you for a bit?" She said.

"Sure," Lance said.

Lance just followed Yang down the hall and around the corner.

"Hey, Lance… I just wanted to say if you ever need anyone to talk to you can talk to me. I mean I know that the team probably feels the same way and probably would be there for you anyways, but I just wanted to let you know personally,"

"Thanks, Yang… It means a lot…" Lance said shooting her a smile. "Your sister actually pretty much said the same thing," He continued, having a small chuckle at how they were kind of alike.

"That sounds like her… She looks up to you ya know… and she's not the only one… I do too…You're strong, Lance. You're also pretty smart and… and I'm glad you decided to join this team," She said.

"I'm glad I joined this team too. You all are great and I'm glad I… I can get to know all of you and that I even met you guys…"

After Lance said that, Yang wrapped her arms around him. Lance was taken aback by the sudden act of affection, but Lance returned the hug.

"If you ever need someone to talk to or rely on, you can trust me," Lance said.

He felt her hug slightly tighten at that. He enjoyed the embrace and felt like he could stay that way forever. They stayed that way a little while longer before she broke off the hug. "Thanks, Lance," She said.

"No problem," He said.

After that they both went back to the room and Lance got ready for bed. Once he was don Lance got in his cot and attempted to fall asleep. His mind drifted back to what happened in the hallway. He was completely taken off guard by the sudden act of affection towards him and was still thinking about it. He did like her, but he had some thoughts of doubt. He also had hopeful thoughts of it maybe working out, and he enjoyed those thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

**So I am a little late on this chapter. I wanted to post sooner, but jobs and life and what not, yadda yadda yadda, you heard it all before. Anyways I am glad I can at least post today! Also another OC that Mr. Azure Flame Knight12 wanted added and I was happy to add this OC. Anyways, look out for that and enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: A New Face**

"Lance…? Hey, Lance?" A voice rang out from the dark. Lance just rolled over in his cot trying to hang on to the dream he was having.

"Lance?" The voice continued.

Lance opened his eyes to see Ruby looking over him. He also noticed that the sun wasn't even up yet.

"Oh, hey Ruby… What's up?" Lance asked.

"I'm just trying to do some last minute homework and I don't get this worksheet…" She said. "I'm sorry to wake you up…"

"Oh, it's fine… I'm glad to help," Lance said giving a still half asleep smile.

"Ok, thanks!" She said smiling back.

Lance got out of his cot and went to help Ruby. They put all their work material on the floor. Lance went to explaining the assignment and Ruby did a good job of paying attention.

"So the King Taijitu has two heads and the scales can be pretty tough," Lance said explaining the snake-like Grimm.

"I'll take a note of that…" Ruby said as she jotted down a few notes. "… Hey, Lance?"

"Yeah?" He responded.

"What was it like…? Being by yourself all that time?" She asked.

Lance was a little surprised by the suddenness of the question, but wasn't bothered too much by it.

"Well… I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it… But, I had some good times too, but it was hard. I didn't really have anyone I could rely on and I struggled with my own thoughts… I wasn't in the best mind set, but after having some time to adjust, I'd say… about two years into it, I decided negative thinking wouldn't get me anywhere. I changed my view on life and things got better. It still wasn't as great as… say; being on a really cool team, with really cool team members, in a really cool school," Lance said. Ruby chuckled at that. "I mean, it was still lonely, but now I have great friends that I can count on and trust in," Lance said.

"I'm glad to hear that you like the team. Maybe having such a great team leader has something to do with it," She said. Lance laughed at that.

"Maybe, it does have something to do with having a great team leader," Lance said nudging Ruby with his elbow in a joking manner.

"Well having good team mates, helps a lot," She said.

"Anyways, was that all you needed help with? That paper and those notes?" Lance asked.

"Yup, that's it," she said.

She grabbed her things and put them away. Lance helped her with putting things away as well. Ruby then jumped up and hugged Lance, almost making him fall, but he quickly got his balance.

"Thanks for the help, Lance!" She quietly exclaimed.

"No problem, but be careful, people are sleeping," Lance said returning the hug, and looking at his sleeping team mates to see if they woke up, witch, thankfully, they didn't.

"You're a life saver," She said.

"I do what I can," he said, setting her down.

Before she was completely on the ground though, she quickly kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks again, Lance. You're the greatest!" She said. She went back to her bed and this time tried to go to sleep.

Lance was thankful that it was fairly dark in the room, otherwise anyone looking on could easily tell that Lance was blushing. He just kind of stood there for a bit registering what just happened. He decided he should probably get to bed though and try get what little sleep he could before classes start.

* * *

"Lance, wake up," Weiss said, rousing him up. He had his head buried in his arms, and was currently in class.

"Sorry, Weiss. I had a late night last night and didn't sleep too well. I had to help Ruby with her homework," Lance said still half asleep.

"As kind as that is, it's still your responsibility to pay attention in class," She said turning back to the lecture.

Lance just sighed and started to take down a few notes to try preoccupy himself and try not to fall asleep. The class wasn't a bad class either, he was just exhausted. Lance heard the bell ring after a little while and was thankful he could at least get up and move his legs. Lance met up with his team mates and they started to make their way to their next class.

"Lance," A voice said.

Lance turned around to see who was calling him. He saw that it was Ozpin and he wondered why Ozpin would need him.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later," Lance said to his team. "What's up, Ozpin?" He asked walking up to Ozpin.

"There's someone here, who'd like to see you," he said.

"Oh, well I guess I can meet this person, I guess," Lance said. Truth be told he was kind of glad he was getting pulled out of class, if only for a bit. He was curious as to who would want to see him. Maybe Sora? That's really the only person he could think of that would really see him.

"Follow me, please," Ozpin said.

"Sure," Lance said.

They both made their way to Ozpin's office, all the while Lance was wondering why Sora would show up to Beacon during school hours. Lance wouldn't put it past Sora to do something like this, but still, he was in school and figured Sora would be busy doing… mercenary business? Lance didn't really know, but still he was a bit confused to say the least.

They made it to Ozpin's office and they both went in. To Lance's surprise, it wasn't Sora waiting for him. It was some girl, about his age, with long dark brown hair, dyed blue on the tips, and tied up in a ponytail. She had a purple shirt on and black pants. She also had a sword on her back that was wrapped up in cloth. She also had green eyes. She didn't look familiar to Lance, but apparently she wanted to see him.

"Yup. You're the guy from yesterday," She said, standing up from her chair and walking over to him.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met…" Lance said.

"You were with Sora," she said.

"You know Sora?" he said.

"Do you know where he went after you guys parted ways?" she asked completely ignoring Lance.

"Uhhm, I don't know. Yesterday was the first time I've seen him in years," Lance said.

"Ugh, just great…" She said crossing her arms. "Well I guess you're no help," She said with distinct disappointment and also it sounded a little venomous.

"Well I mean, I can contact him. Are you a friend of Sora's?" He asked.

"You can!? Perfect!" She said, also ignoring Lance's question.

"You do know Sora, right?" Lance said. He was kind of getting annoyed by her not answering his questions.

"Yes, I know him," She said.

"Ok, also, before I forget, my name is Lance Azure," He said holding out a hand.

"My name is Sonia Blackwell," She said grabbing his hand and shaking.

"So you can get a hold of Sora, right?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. I'll try get a hold of him after my classes. I'll tell him you're looking for him," He said.

"Great, tell him to meet me at this address at 7-o-clock tonight. I'll be waiting," She said taking out a piece of paper with an address on it.

"I'll let him know," he said grabbing the piece of paper.

With that she just went out the door. _"That was kind of weird,"_ Lance thought.

Ozpin just walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair and continued with his work.

"I'm assuming you know what class you have and where it is, so I'll just let you go," He said not even looking up from his work.

"Uh, sure thing," Lance said as he made his way out the door.

* * *

Lance was heading back to the dorm with his team mates in tow. He was exhausted from the long day he had of trying to stay awake in classes. He was relieved that it was over and he could unwind and try to get to sleep relatively early. Lance then also remembered the conversation he had with Sonia. He also remembered that he should contact Sora and tell him about Sonia and that she wanted to see him.

Once the team made it to their dorm, Lance pulled out his scroll and sent a message to Sora telling him about Sonia, and that she wanted to meet him. He told him the address on the paper and also the time in which he was supposed to meet her. With that he sent the message and put his scroll away.

After a while of Lance just hanging out, and talking with his team, he got a message on his scroll. The message was from Sora and it read, "How do you know Sonia? I'm heading to your school now. Meet me on one of the roofs. I'll find you,"

Lance was confused as to why Sora would need to meet him at school, but Lance decided that he should make his way to the roof.

"Hey, guys, I gotta meet a buddy of mine. I'll catch you all later," He said.

"When will you be back?" Weiss asked.

"It shouldn't be long. I'm not even leaving the school grounds. It's kind of odd, but he just told me to… uh… meet him on the roof," Lance said.

"That is a little strange, but alright," Blake said.

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of this," Weiss said shooting Lance an accusatory glare

"Look, it's just Sora. He's a good guy, trust me. I won't be too long," Lance said reassuringly.

"Alright, see ya when you get back," Yang said.

"See ya!" Lance said as he went out the door.

Lance made it to the roof and waited. He took out his scroll to check the time. The scroll said that it was 5:32. He put the scroll back in his pocket and just enjoyed the view. He didn't wait for too long until Sora hopped up behind him. Lance turned to face his friend.

"Hey Sora, what's up?" He asked.

"Nothing much really. I did want to talk to you about that girl who asked for you. You know, that Sonia girl," Sora said.

"Sure, I don't really know much about her, but all I know is that she wanted to find you, and I guess she knew we were at that café yesterday. It was really strange and she seemed… interesting," Lance said.

"Yeah, that's definitely Blackwell…" Sora said stepping next to Lance and looking at the view. Lance turned to enjoy the view as well.

"Who is she? She said she knew you and I assumed that you did," Lance said.

"Yeah, I know her… She's also a mercenary like I am, and that's actually how we met… We worked a few missions together and we eventually got in a relationship," He said.

"How long ago was this?" Lance asked.

"I'd say about a year. It's not too long ago, but still… Long story short things didn't really end too well and we both decided to split. I guess she's looking for me now? I dunno I'm still trying to figure some stuff out, and I figured before I went and met up with her I would come to you. You always were pretty good with giving advice and helping out, so I just thought I would talk to you," Sora said.

Lance may not be very good at romance and what not when it came to him (especially when Sora pestered him), but he really did have a soft spot for romance, and has helped Sora out before on these kind of topics.

"I guess… what I would do… well first of all, how do you feel about her?" Lance asked.

"Well… I guess… if I had to I'd say... I still care for her. It's part of the reason we split,"

Lance was a little confused by that, but he didn't want to cross any lines, or talk about things he probably shouldn't, so he didn't really press it.

"So do you think she'd still be upset? Assuming she even is upset. I mean she wanted to find you and she seemed set on it. I would talk to her and see if you can't try work it out. It's worth a shot if you still have feelings for her," Lance said.

"I guess you're right. I get myself worked up and… I dunno. I'm glad we could have this small chat. I kind of needed it," Sora said. "I'll go try meet her now, thanks again, Lance,"

"Don't mention it," Lance said.

"I'll catch you later!" Sora said.

"Yup, see ya," Lance said throwing him a small wave.

With that Sora left and Lance went back inside and made his way to his dorm room. Lance felt pretty good about cheering up his friend and helping him out a bit, but Lance had to get back to his friends. He would talk to Sora more about it later, and maybe… talk about his situation too.


	14. Chapter 14

**I thought this chapter came out rather well. I enjoyed typing it and I hope you guys enjoy reading it! I'll try to type more, but with my schedule it may prove to be difficult at times, but I'll do what I can! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Another Late Night**

"Hey guys, I'm back," Lance said as he entered his dorm.

"Hey Lance," Ruby said.

"I wasn't too long, was I?" Lance asked.

"Not at all," Blake said.

"Glad to hear it," Lance said as he leaned against the wall. He didn't really have a place to sit at the moment, so leaning against the wall was good enough for him.

"So what was that about?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I don't know if I should talk about it… I think it's a personal thing," Lance responded.

"Personal?" Weiss said raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, I guess. I don't know how else to put it," He said shrugging.

"So was that Sora you said you were meeting?" Yang asked.

"Yeah. It's nice that I'm seeing more of him after all this time," Lance said.

"So what's he like? I remember you talking about him a little bit, but I don't remember you telling any details," Blake said.

"Well, he's a kind guy, but like I said before, he can be energetic and not totally level headed, I guess I would say. We used to play together all the time and we were best friends back in Vacuo. We even went to the same school. He was just a class below me. But anyways, he was a little bit of a trouble maker. He was definitely the class clown. I had to help him with homework on multiple occasions, but he was pretty good about it," Lance said. Describing his old friend brought back memories of his child hood that he enjoyed. He was happy to talk about it.

"He seems like an interesting character," Blake said.

"Heh… he was, definitely. My folks didn't really approve of him, but at the same time, at least he wasn't really a bad person," Lance said.

"He sounds to me like trouble," Weiss said.

Lance just chuckled a bit at how predictable she was. He knew she wouldn't approve of him. At least not right away.

"What's so funny?" Weiss said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Heheh, it's nothing," Lance said.

Lance felt his fatigue kicking back in and decided to pull out his scroll and check the time. It was later than Lance thought.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm very tired," Lance said putting his scroll away.

"I'm a little tired too," Ruby said. Lance figured that she would be as well.

"You guys going to bed?" Yang asked.

"I think I might," Lance said stretching.

"Ok, sounds good," She said.

Lance made his way to the bathroom and started to get ready for bed. When he was done getting ready, he got in his cot and went to sleep.

* * *

Lance awoke to the sound of something tapping on glass. He sat up in his cot and looked out the window. It looked like someone was out there. The figure in the window waved at Lance when he noticed him get up. _"Am I dreaming?_" Lance thought. He got up and went to the window to get a closer look at the figure. When he got close enough, he noticed it was Sora hanging on the building and tapping on the glass. He waved again when Lance noticed him.

Lance cracked open the window to talk to his friend.

"What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is? I have classes tomorrow," Lance whispered.

"Hey, I need to talk to you," Sora said.

"How did you even find my dorm?" Lance asked.

Sora just looked past Lance and saw his team mates.

"No way! You're bunking with FOUR girls!" Sora whispered.

"Look now's not the time. If you want to talk, lets at least talk on the roof," Lance said.

"Gotcha! Meet ya there," Sora said hopping off somewhere out of view.

Lance let out a sigh before getting ready and heading outside. Lance got on his normal attire and brought his sword, for good measure. He didn't really know why he brought it. It was more of a habit to take it along with him. He made his way back to the roof and met up with Sora, who was already waiting for him.

"Also, I felt bad for waking you up, so I got you this," Sora said tossing Lance a soda.

"Thanks," Lance said, catching the soda. Lance opened the soda and took a sip. He didn't think caffeine really affected him, but whether it did or didn't Lance tried to make himself think that it helped him.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Lance asked.

"It's about that meeting I had with Sonia," Sora said with a somewhat serious tone in his voice, throwing Lance off a bit.

"Did it go well?" Lance asked.

"Not really," He said.

"What happened?"

"Well, she came to me and we talked a bit, but she was relatively straight to the point..." Sora said looking at the ground. Lance was pretty confused, but he had an idea…

Lance went up and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, man," He said.

"What? No, I mean yeah it sucks, but it's not what you think," Sora said.

"Huh?" Lance said confused. Sora stepped back, causing Lance to release his grip on his shoulder.

"Let me explain… Basically you know I'm a merc and so is Sonia, and that we worked together. I didn't tell you the reason why we had to split… Long story short, I made some people angry and now they want me, well… dead," Sora said.

"They want you dead? Who wants you dead?" Lance asked

"Some guy named, Roman. He's all over the news and stuff, I'm sure you've heard of him," He said.

"Roman? Roman Torchwick?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, that's his name. Basically I pissed him off and now he wants me dead," Sora said. "But that still doesn't answer why Sonia and I had to split… I was worried he would come after her so I had to leave. I told her and she wasn't happy about it, but she begrudgingly agreed… So we left and I ran here… apparently though, he found out about Sonia, and soon enough, thugs started showing up and tried to attack her. She came here to warn me that they found out about me being here too, and that he sent some people out for us… So there you have it…" Sora said.

Lance was a little surprised that he was in this deep.

"Geez…" Lance said, astonished.

"So I came here wondering if you could… maybe, help me out," He said.

"I'll do what I can," Lance said.

"I knew you'd help! Because, I really need it right now," Sora said.

Lance wasn't totally happy about having another late night, but his friend needed help.

"Let's head out," Sora said.

"Yeah, let's go," Lance said.

* * *

They made it to the edge of town and towards the emerald forest.

"Uhm, Sora?" Lance said.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Where is it that we're going?" Lance asked.

"To a safe house that I set up back in the day," Sora said.

"Oh, ok," Lance said.

They both made their way through the forest. Lance didn't really know where Sora was going, but he trusted him, and in case, he was paying attention to the route that they took. It wasn't too long before they came across a building which Lance assumed was the safe house.

"Is that it?" He asked.

"Yup," Sora said making his way towards it. Lance noticed some people who were dressed in similar attire to the goons he fought when he ran into Roman. They were also armed with the same blades and a few had some guns. Lance grabbed the collar of Sora's shirt, and pulled him back into the tree line. "Wait," Lance whispered. He then pointed to the goons.

"Crap… How did they get here?" He said.

Lance put a hand on his sword. He quickly evaluated his opponents. It seemed like there were at least four guys with guns and nine with those swords. Lance put a hand on his sword getting ready to fight, but before he could make the first move, Sora already had his weapons ready and lunged at the first guy he saw.

The person in question was kicked in the head and was sent flying into the building with a loud thud. This alerted the others and they all got ready for a fight too. Lance then emerged from the tree line in a run towards one of the goons with a gun who was taking aim at his friend. He sliced the gun in two before charging his aura into his fist and punched the goon in the stomach, while also releasing the aura giving his punch that extra power, causing the thug to fly through the tree line. Lance then saw a guy running up with a blade raised behind him. Lance quickly spun around and parried the man's attack. The thug recoiled back leaving himself open for an attack. Lance took a horizontal slash at the goon and he was knocked on his back.

Sonia then ran out of the safe house with her weapon drawn. Her weapon was a one edged blade that also looked like it was a gun as well. She then charged at one of the goons. Lance was distracted by the arrival of Sonia that he didn't notice one of the men taking aim at him. He turned and saw the man aiming at him, but before the guy could pull the trigger. Yang emerged from the tree line and punched him straight in the jaw and he was sent flying.

"Yang? What are you doing here?" He yelled over to her.

"Now isn't the time!" Yang said punching another guy.

Lance just nodded and found his next target. It was down to only two more thugs that needed to be taken care of. Lance saw Sora sprint at one, but the man was ready for him. He swung down with his sword, but Sora predicted his attack and managed to step out of the way. It happened so fast that it was just a blur. Sora then swiped at the goon with his claw-like weapon causing the goon to recoil in pain. He kept on the assault by taking another two swipes at the thug. He then finished him off with a roundhouse kick to the face.

Sonia then rushed at the other goon and jumped in the air, with her blade raised above her head. She brought it down with such power that it broke the man's defense and he was taken out in a single blow. Sonia then sheathed her weapon on her back.

After all the chaos, the conscious of the thugs grabbed the incapacitated and ran.

"I don't think this place is very safe now," Lance said sheathing his sword.

"Hah, you think?" Sonia said sarcastically.

"Also, what're you doing here, Yang?" Lance asked turning to Yang.

"Well I heard you get up and saw that you left. So I quickly got ready and followed you guys," She said.

"Well, since you're here, this is Sora. Sora this is Yang. She's one of my team mates," Lance said introducing the two.

"Hey, like he said I'm Sora," He said putting his weapons away as well.

"Hey, Sora," Yang said.

"Who are all these people you're bringing to the hideout?" Sonia said

"Well, Lance is a friend, you know that, and Yang, is a friend of Lance's, so she's cool," Sora said. "By the way, is she one of the girls you were talking about?" Sora whispered to Lance also pulling him aside.

Lance's face immediately went red. "Can it wait?" He said.

Sora just had a grin on his face and shot Lance a look that implied that Yang was in fact one of the girls he was talking about.

"What're you guys whispering about over there?" Yang asked

"Uh, nothing!" Lance said immediately turning around and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Smooth," Sora whispered to him.

"Shut it," Lance whispered back.

"Ooookay," Yang said. "So what is this place? You said it was a hideout?" She asked.

"Well it was supposed to be, but I guess it's not so hidden now," Sonia said.

"Let's get inside quick. I would like to leave, but I have some things I need to get and we should talk ASAP," Sora said heading for the door of the structure. Sonia, Lance, and Yang followed. Lance knew a little bit about the situation, but still was curious about the details. Hopefully soon, Lance would find out.


	15. Chapter 15

**OK so I forgot to do some of the editing on this before I uploaded. I was in such a hurry to upload the story I forgot, so I'll just add this in explaining this. Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter and sorry about the delay. I've been busy and had very little time to type, so I appreciate you guys' being so patient. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 15: A Change of Plans**

They all entered the safe house and it wasn't anything special. It was just the essentials along with a few other things for weapon maintenance and some dust. The safe house just had one main room divided into two parts. On one side was a kitchen area and the other side had a bed built into the wall and a desk. There was also a table that had a few fold out chairs. Other than the main room, the only other room was the bathroom that had a shower as well. Lance thought it was actually pretty nice for a safe house that Sora would've set up.

They all gathered around the table while Sora was pocketing some dust and other materials that he didn't want to lose. Once he was done he joined them at the table.

"Ok, sorry about that," Sora said, sitting down.

"So what else was there to talk about? I don't feel too safe here," Lance said.

"That's fine, it shouldn't take too long, I don't think," Sora assured Lance. Lance just nodded in response.

"So I'm sure Sora told you about his… predicament," Sonia said.

"Well he told me, but I don't know if Yang knows," Lance said.

"Not really," Yang said.

"Could you just give her a quick update?" Lance asked

"So basically, I made some guys mad and they want me dead. I ran to Vale and now they're here," Sora said.

"Who wants you dead?" Yang asked.

"Guy named Roman Torchwick. I thought I lost him, because he hasn't bugged me or anyone I knew in a while, but I guess that he's still pretty upset," Sora said.

"What'd you do to make him so angry?" She asked.

"Long story short, I took one of his jobs, and ditched. It must've been important if he's still upset," Sora said.

"Well that would explain why he'd still be mad at you," Lance said.

"Also, Lance, how did you do that punch thing? I saw what looked like your aura around your hand and you sent that guy flying! How'd you do that?" Sora asked.

"Is now really the time to ask that Sora? Time is of the essence," Sonia said.

"She's got a point," Lance said.

"But I'm curious!" Sora said.

Sonia gave him a stern look, but Sora countered by making a really sad face.

"Pleeeaaase?" Sora whined.

"…Just tell him so we can move on," Sonia said crossing her arms.

"Alright. So basically I figured out a while ago that I could take my aura and project it. So I can channel my aura into any part of my body or my weapon," Lance explained.

"That's so cool! When did you pick that up!?" Sora said.

"I'll explain later, ok? We have more important stuff to talk about," Lance said.

"Fine…" Sora said slumping down.

"Now that, we have Yang up to pace and got that out of the way, let's get back to business," Sonia said.

"Right. Anyways, one reason I wanted to bring you here was to show you where I'd be located, but now we need to find a new place," Sora said.

"It just so happens that I have a place we could use," Sonia said.

"So now we'll be meeting at her location if we ever need to meet again," Sora said.

"Also, we need to keep a low profile, so you won't probably be able to see a whole lot of us. Also, don't try contacting us unless it's an emergency," Sonia said.

"So where will you guys be?" Lance asked.

Sonia pulled out a piece of paper that had an address on it. She handed the piece of paper to Lance.

"Sounds good. We should head out though. I want to leave this place as soon as possible. Also… I'm tired," Lance said

"Right, well we'll try to keep you in the loop. Do you need help getting back, or are you fine?" Sora asked.

"I think I'll be fine," Lance said.

"Nice to meet you both," Yang said.

"Likewise," Sonia said.

"Nice to meet you too," Sora said. "Also, keep an eye on Lance. Make sure he's able to find his way back and gets his beauty rest,"

"Will do," Yang said while laughing.

"Sorry, I'm tired…" Lance said rubbing his eyes.

"Well we're going. Keep in touch," Lance said getting up from his chair.

Both Lance and Yang waved goodbye and left.

* * *

They both started to make their way out of the forest. Lance was doing a pretty good job of remembering the way. Both Lance and Yang walked side by side through the forest.

"So that was Sora?" Yang asked.

"Yup. The one and only," Lance said.

"He seemed pretty nice,"

"He's a good guy,"

"And do you know Sonia?"

"Not really. That's one of Sora's friends that he met while being a mercenary. She seemed really weird the first time I met her,"

"How so?"

"Well, she apparently knew me, kind of, and came to the school asking for me. It was the reason Ozpin wanted to see me," He explained.

"How'd she know you?" She asked

"Well, when I first met Sora again, she was tracking him, and she ended up losing him, but I guess she overheard that I went to Beacon Academy and so she went and found me,"

"Ahhh, that's kind of weird,"

"You're telling me," Lance said chuckling at her response.

"Just curious, but, what do you think of Beacon and all of this?" Lance asked.

"I think it's great! I mean it's really cool to be able to fight monsters and stuff, and go to school for it!"

"Couldn't agree with you more," He said. "It's really a dream come true for me,"

"I could imagine. It is for a lot of people, including my sister,"

"It's still weird to think about it. It all feels like a dream, but it's not. I'm glad I'm able to have the opportunity to be here, and have the friends I do. It's like I have a family again,"

"I'm glad to hear it!" Yang said. "But… do you ever miss your family?"

"Well, yeah. I mean my father might not feel the same way, but I do miss him and my whole family…"

"What was the rest of your family like?"

"They were great. My sister and I got in fights often, but we loved each other. My mother was also very kind and loving… I wonder how they've been… I wonder that a lot… I was always afraid that I was a burden on them though. I mean, I feel like I've caused them a lot of hardship,"

Lance then felt Yang wrap her arms around him and he remembered that familiar embrace, to which he gladly returned.

"Don't ever think of yourself as a burden, because you're not,"

"You're right, I shouldn't think like that… but I just feel like I was. The way my father acted I… I couldn't help but think that I was,"

"You're a great and caring person, and far from being a burden,"

Lance smiled at that and held her tighter.

"Thanks, Yang,"

They stayed in the embrace for a while longer before heading back on their way. Lance wanted to get back in time to hopefully get enough sleep for the next day.

Lance woke from his sleep feeling better than he expected. He wasn't terribly tired and he felt like he could actually get through the day. He noticed that everybody was already up but Weiss and him. He got up getting the attention of the others.

* * *

"Good morning!" Ruby said. "How'd you sleep?"

"Not too bad," He said.

Lance made his way to the bathroom. He went in and proceeded to get ready for the day. Lance never really took too long to get ready, so he was done rather quickly. He then got dressed in his school uniform and was then officially ready for the day. When he got out he noticed that Weiss was up as well.

"Good morning Weiss," Lance said.

"Same to you," She said.

Despite Weiss' normally bad attitude, he still tried to be reasonable at times and it turned out that she wasn't all bad all the time.

She then made her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day too.

"She was actually pleasant today!" Lance said with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"I heard that!" Weiss said through the door.

The group, excluding Weiss, all had a laugh out of the exchange of words.

When Weiss was done getting ready, the team then made their way to their classes.

* * *

"Lance, look out!" Yang yelled.

He looked to see who was flanking him and saw that it was a Boarbatusk charging at him. He rolled out of the way just in time. Ruby then took it out in one slice with Crescent Rose.

"Thanks!" Lance yelled back.

He looked and saw Blake fighting an Ursa and ran over to help her. While the Ursa was focused on Blake, Lance jumped on its back and plunged his sword into the beast. The Ursa roared in pain and reeled back. While the Ursa was writhing in pain, Blake took the opportunity to attack. She unleashed a flurry of attacks with gambol shroud in its katana form. The beast was no match and fell forwards.

"Nicely done, team RWBY and Lance," Glynda said.

"So, what team is next?" She asked.

Team RWBY made their way to where the rest of the students were standing outside. Today they were doing some real combat exercises against real Grimm. Where they got the Grimm was beyond Lance, but he didn't really question it. The exercises were supervised by Glynda, and it was actually her combat class that the team was in now. He enjoyed these classes too, because combat did interest him.

"Good job guys!" Yang cheered.

"I thought we did a good job," Lance said.

When they had exercises like these, unless they were in the classroom, the students were allowed to talk as long as they weren't too much of a distraction. It was a perk of doing these exercises, but combat exercises like these were few and far between.

"Thanks for the help by the way, Lance," Blake said.

"Yeah, no sweat. I should also thank Yang again too for the call out on that Boarbatusk,"

"Haha, it was nothing,"

"You guys did pretty well against that Beowolf, though,"

"He was easy," Ruby said.

"How'd you think we did, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Well, your fighting style needs work. It was sloppy, and another thing that would've been nice is if you didn't get in the way of that other Boarbatusk, it wouldn't have gone hurtling towards Lance,"" She said.

"C'mon, we did great, Weiss! Even Glynda said we did a good job!" Yang said.

"You asked for my opinion and I gave it," She responded.

"How much time until class is over?" Lance asked.

"I think just another fifteen minutes," Blake said.

"I can check,"

Lance pulled out his scroll and saw that she wasn't too far off.

"It's actually seventeen, but you were close,"

Lance looked back to the fight that was quickly wrapping up. This was the last team to fight for today and classes were about to be dismissed. The Vytal festival was coming up next week, so another day down is another day closer to the festival, so Lance was a little excited for classes to get done for the day, and that means time off as well!

After a short while, the bell sounded and classes were dismissed for the day. Team RWBY made their way to their dorm to be able to hang out for a bit and decompress after a day full of studying and fighting. Once they made it to their dorm, Lance got a message on his scroll. Lance looked at the message and saw it was from Sora. It read, "Lance, I need your help. Sonia has been kidnapped."


End file.
